A wonderful story in the NYT magazine this weekend by my pal Dan Buettner, author of Blue Zones. Dan has identified the secrets to a long, happy life to be: friends, afternoon naps, a sense of belonging, belief (in one way or another), a Mediterranean diet, a bit of red wine, and a few other thing. He explains the quest he's been on these last ten years:
For a decade, with support from the National Geographic Society, I’ve been organizing a study of the places where people live longest. The project grew out of studies by my partners, Dr. Gianni Pes of the University of Sassari in Italy and Dr. Michel Poulain, a Belgian demographer. In 2000, they identified a region of Sardinia’s Nuoro province as the place with the highest concentration of male centenarians in the world. As they zeroed in on a cluster of villages high in Nuoro’s mountains, they drew a boundary in blue ink on a map and began referring to the area inside as the “blue zone.”Danny, I can attest, doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. I first met him long ago when I was twenty-two and proof-reading, somewhat miserably, late into the night at the Paris Review office on 72nd St. He came downstairs from a charity fundraising meeting, and introduced himself, saying, "You really ought to knock off and show us out-of-towners where to have a drink in this neighborhood."
He wasn't trying to teach me a lesson, per se, just being himself and a good guy. He added, "Your work will still be there in the morning, I'm sure."
Read the whole thing HERE.
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