Overview

University Press returns with another short and captivating book - a brief history of the extraordinary human ability to outlive our ancestors. Jeanne Calment was born in Arles, France on February 21, 1875, and died in the same town on August 4, 1997 - at the world-record-setting age of 122. Having outlived her daughter and her grandson, she was often asked about her secret to longevity. Wine, olive oil, and laughter, she proclaimed. 250,000 years ago, when the first homo sapiens began to walk the earth, global life expectancy was a mere 29 years. By 1800, global life expectancy was... still 29. By 1900, global life expectancy had risen to 31. Today, global life expectancy has risen to 72. So, after millennia of relative stagnation, human life expectancy has more than doubled in just the past 100 years. This is a remarkable achievement and a profound testament to the power of incremental improvements in modern medicine, public policy, good governance, and international cooperation. But these numbers mask some stark inequalities. Today, in Japan, life expectancy is 85. In the Central African Republic, it's just 54. Today, In the U.S. state of Hawaii, life expectancy is 82. In West Virginia, it's just 74. What explains these remarkable phenomena? And - given current trends - how likely are we to break Jeanne Calmer's record? This short book provides a fascinating history of our extraordinary ability to outlive our ancestors - a history that you can read in about an hour.

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