David Rubenstein's Reviews > Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives

This is not a typical self-help book. It is not really a prescriptive book -- it is about the science of aging, and the scientifically-proven methods to increase one's healthy span of life. The author, Daniel Levitin, is a neuroscientist and a cognitive psychologist. His book contains an appendix with 70 pages of scientific references.

But this is not dry-reading. It is filled to the brim with anecdotes, especially stories about people who lived well into their 80's, 90's, and even beyond with healthy, fulfilling lives. And the book is spiced with humor. For example, "If I livve to one thousand and have more than ten generations of offspring, I'm going to need to get a bigger table for Thanksgiving dinners."

Levitin is also a musician; he also wrote the book This Is Your Brain on Music. So many of his anecdotes are about musicians who lived long, healthy lives. Levitin talks about an 87-year-old consultant audio engineer who came into his home recording studio, studied the acoustics for an hour, then suggested a few minor changes that totally transformed the acoustics!

This is a comprehensive book; it covers a lot of areas in all aspects of life. Levitin talks about areas where older people get better with age, life self-control and self-discipline, agreeableness, and emotional stability. Other areas like conscientiousness, openness and extraversion decrease with old age. Besides IQ and EQ, a big deal is made of CQ--"Curiosity Quotient", because it is the best measure for predicting life success. Older people have more wisdom, because they can see patterns that others do not see. They are not as fast at mental calculations and retrieving names, but they are better and faster at seeing the big picture. This comes from decades of generalization and abstraction.

There is a lot of discussion of memory, and an interesting idea called "Multiple Trace Theory". Every experience lays down a unique trace in the brain. Repetitions don't overwrite earlier traces; they simply lay down more, near-identical but unique traces of their own. The more traces there are for an event, the more likely you will recall it rapidly and accurately. Levitin claims that memory doesn't truly decline with age. But memory tests case stress that affect older people more than young.

While some historians say that the purpose of the brain was discovered only recently, this is not true. There are two references in the Bible, showing that the authors of the Old Testament knew that the brain is the seat of thought.

Levitin talks a lot about healthy emotions and social engagement. He writes that loneliness is worse for your health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The book has lots lf suggestions for activities that can reduce loneliness.

There is a chapter in the book on nutrition, on exercise, and sleep. Of course, these three topics are central to health. Levitin writes, "Even the teensiest, tiniest, barely measurable amount of physical activity improves brain functions." The book discusses various marketed interventions that are claimed to reverse human aging--but none have been proven, and some are dangerous.

We are all getting older, and this book just might spark you to change some aspect of life, some idea or activity that will increase your healthy life span.