The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest
Written by Dan Buettner
Narrated by Michael McConnohie
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Editor's Note
Secrets to longevity...
In this highly acclaimed, bestselling book, researcher & explorer Dan Buettner shares the habits, diets, outlooks, and stress-coping practices from the world’s “Blue Zones,” which hold the secrets to longevity.
Dan Buettner
Dan Buettner is an internationally recognized researcher, explorer, and author. He founded Blue Zones to research and publicize the world's best practices in health, longevity, and happiness. A pioneer in exploration and education, he has traveled the world to answer some of science's biggest questions. Dan's National Geographic cover story on Blue Zones was one of the top-selling covers in the magazine's history, and the book hit the New York Times bestseller list.
More audiobooks from Dan Buettner
The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've L Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons From the World's Happiest People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Blue Zones
Related audiobooks
The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Starch Solution: Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons from the World’s Happiest People by Dan Buettner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fit for Life: A New Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Comparing the Blue Zone Diet With the Keto Diet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Skinny: Start Understanding Your Body's Chemistry--and Stop Dieting Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mindful Vegan: A 30-Day Plan for Finding Health, Balance, Peace, and Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Happy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disease-Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Keeps Us Well Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary Bundle: Nutrition & Energy: Includes Summary of The China Study & Summary of The Clarity Cleanse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Clever Gut Diet: How to Revolutionize Your Body from the Inside Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plant Paradox Quick and Easy: The 30-Day Plan to Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Live Lectin-Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skinny Liver: A Proven Program to Prevent and Reverse the New Silent Epidemic - Fatty Liver Disease Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5CLEAN 7: Supercharge the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself—The One-Week Breakthrough Detox Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Be Well: The 6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat Like The Animals: What Nature Teaches Us About the Science of Healthy Eating Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Your Gut: An Easy-to-Digest Guide to Health and Happiness from the Inside Out Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5EAT: The Effortless Weight Loss Solution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Self-Improvement For You
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mountain is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Practicing the Power of Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformatory: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Blue Zones
158 ratings19 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was an enjoyable read. Having traveled around the globe more than few times I was always intrigued how certain races or cultures seemed to have the longevity factor far outpacing the normal lifespan. In 'The Blue Zone' you'll find ways to live as much as a decade longer, thereby leding one to live a longer and fuller lifespan. Inside you'll find habits that can and will develop habits to leading a more productive life!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 2008 version of the book is informative. It has numerous stories of actual centenarians from each of four areas in the world. Readers are introduced to specific individuals and allowed to understand how they have eaten, exercises, and socialized throughout their lives. This helps the reader to better internalize the information being provided. At the end of section, the author lists the locales' customs and traditions that contribute to their longevity, and the science that proves it. However, despite these stories, the human interest connection that the author tries to create is overshadowed by the book's numerous editing errors and the author's commentary that often seems to conclude without conveying a specific point. Unfortunately, both of these problems crop up often enough to detract from the understanding and general enjoyment of the information provided.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A great philosophy on living life healthier and longer, Dan Buettner's Blue Zone something that everyone concerned about aging in modern society should take a look at. Learn from the places on the Earth where people live the longest how they do it - what makes them tick so long.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living a healthy life well into your 90's - and possibly your 100's - may be easier than you think. Award-winning author and researcher Dan Buettner has traveled the world to meet the planet's longest-lived people, and learned nine powerful yet simple lessons that could put you on the path to longer life. Where did he find them? In the Blue Zones - Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved it. Will try to implement some of the things described in the book into my life as much as possible. Some of them I already do - like eating a lot of bitter melon :), and my love of walking...
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book differs from the typical fare of longetivity offerings whereby the author has determined that there are specific areas of the world "Blue Zones" where people are known to live significantly longer than the normal life expectancy of an industrialized nation. The book focused on interviewing these octagenarians in there home and seeing what they had in common that distinguished them from other nations. This unique approach was interesting and pointed out a common them. Many of people lead a very simple life. They grow their own food, have deep family roots, work and stay active all their lives and live more or less stress free. While I found this book interesting, anyone that really wants to benefit from the findings can just read the final chapter that tells how to incorporate the findings into your lifestyle. Ultimately, the final rersults are the basis of which all the thousands of health books have in common. Don't smoke, drink in moderation, eat natural foods and exercise. Follow these rules and you can live longer. Unfortunately for us Americans our lifestyles of fast food and high stress work will never let us achieve our optimum life span. If you are interested in longevivity study then you would probably enjoy this book. If not, just read the last chapter if you have the opportunity.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I began reading this book thinking that there would be some unified theory based on certain foods. What I found was simple and refreshing. I feel that the researchers were able to come up with a unified theory on best practices. There is certainly an interest in developing awareness around what we put into our bodies. This book gives added perspective of culture, ancestry and environment.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a very interesting read. I enjoyed hearing the authors experiences of visiting with centenarians. Rather than just plying the readers with data, he did a good job of bringing the individuals and their lifestyles to life. One review of this book that I read gave it a poor rating, as there was no real new or astounding data. I think that was one of the best things about the book. People are always looking for a miracle cure, one magical thing that they can do to live forever. I found it comforting that all of the conclusions they found in studying the people in these Blue Zones are things that we all can do, and things that we pretty much know we should be doing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed reading this book. It is well written and reads along at a good pace. I really liked the little side bars that gave useful tips about a particular food that is part of the diet of that particular Blue Zone. I found that I did not have to radically change my diet or routine to be living healthier but improve my health through small adjustments.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved it, the format is great, I think I preferred the audio to actually reading it since you can better understand how the words are pronouced and the accents. I very much enjoyed the lessons and wisdom. Read this book for your health
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantastic, amazing information that is presented in an easy listening manner.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was good, but I think it could have been condensed considerably. The narratives were mildly interesting, but not terribly compelling (to me). I did like the last chapter on "Your Personal Blue Zone" that summarized the findings into digestible bits. My most important take-away was that there is no silver bullet for longevity. Rather, a constellation of factors are at work - especially including social factors that I don't expect to show up in pill form anytime soon.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buettner discusses the health, fitness, diet, and aging process by researching the blue zones globally. The blue zones are places where there is an inordinate number of centenarians. Interesting concept with lots of ideas to live not only a longer life, but one with quality.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A great balance of fun and heartwarming anecdotes interspersed with data from research and studies.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't care much about longevity, but this is a book about living well as much as long. The secret? You already knew it. Eat more plants than animals, have a purpose in life each day when you rise, stay socially connected, move your body every day, keep your sense of humor. (There are nine major recommendations in all, with numerous sub-components.)
The authors describe four visits to Okinawa, Sardinia, Loma Linda California (a Seventh Day Adventist community), and Costa Rica, and in each place they visit communities with an unusual number of centenarians. They interview them about their lives, now and in the past, and look at younger people (as in, age 60 and 70) in the community who are living in similar ways.
There are interesting details that emerge in conversations with scientists and anthropologists who provide a guide to each local community. Some communities drink red wine and some do not. One group keeps the Sabbath. Each has some special foods, mugwort, fish oil, whatever. Good genes will get you 25% of the way there too. But from these details the author synthesizes some good general principles that are really as much about living well as living long.
How long we live is really a trivial detail. The goal is not to live long but to live well, and to die quickly when the living is done.
This book is a bit too chatty for my taste. I prefer more science and examples and less detail about the cafe in which the author held a conversation with a local researcher. Nonetheless, you can skim through it and hear some interesting voices and stories of good living -- well worth reading.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Its a pity many of the Blue Zones (high life expectancy areas) are disappearing due to the expansion of western ideas - except for the Blue Zone in the US (the Adventists). Many common themes come out of each of the Blue Zones and these are summarised in the 9 factors that lead to a long life. Hard physical work apparently doesn't kill you.You can log onto BlueZones.com to take a longevity survey. Funnily enough the site mentions consuming fish which is not one of the 9 findings.Recommended reading.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I read the second editon of this book, which was published in 2012. The author, a writer for National Geographic, tells of his visits to Sardinia, Okinawa, Loma Linda, CA, Costa Rica, and the island of Ikaris, Greece, where he and his fellow researchers interviewed the many 100-year-olds living in those places in an effort to see why they were able to live so long. He spends a lot of time on their diet but also empasizes their non-fast-paced style of living. Many of their lives do not seem too interesting but they are satisfied and they live longer than people who live more exciting lives. Anybody can pick up some hints as to what might one live longer. I liked the fact that there was emphasis on eating nuts regularly. Since I for some years have eaten 16 almonds every day, I took a little satisfaction in learning about that. There are lots more interesting things one can learn from this book, written of course in Natioal Geographic prose.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The blue zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest by Dan BuettnerStories of the different areas worldwide and strategies of how the people live with excellent health into triple digits.This book gives you options that you can select how far you want to go to your own longevity.Interesting to learn all the things that do effect our lives...Goat's milk is a food that might help, walk a bunch, whole grains, olive oil, fruits and beans are also clues.The one thing I found was to be with family, grandkids, etc it will keep you on your toes and others younger will look up to you, respect you. It does keep you young.Power naps for 30 mins, herbal teas lower blood pressure. Each of the zones has their own specialty. it's what works for them.Loved hearing how they discover a blue zone-all the numerology involved. I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I received this as an ER copy, and I found this book pretty neat. There are lots of books on how to “expand your youth” but it’s really good to see a book that actually talks to the people who have done so. The book focuses on four distinct and different regions of people who have all lived beyond the average life expectancy (usually 100+). I was glad to see one was in America, even. The book brings to light some hard truths, though. Collectively, as Americans, we are not on our way to being centenarians ourselves with our current lifestyle. Even worse, we are affecting other countries with our bad habits. What I really liked about the book was that it not only told you the behaviors of these people, but how you can apply it to your own life. It really helps put things in perspective. While it’s not the perfect go-to book for how to live your life, it’s certainly a great starting point.