Eighty has been considered the new sixty for around twenty years now. Indeed, there have always been late bloomers, those who refuse to decline just because they qualify for social security. Journalist, humorist, and history enthusiast Mo Rocca, along with coauthor Jonathan Greenberg, introduce us to individuals, both past and present, who reached their peak when they could have been slowing down—emerging as writers, selling out concert halls, attempting to set land-speed records, and even, in the case of a ninety-year-old tortoise, becoming a first-time father. (Take that, Al Pacino!)

In the style of Mobituaries, Roctogenarians is a collection of entertaining and surprising profiles of these unretired legends—some from the past (like a cancer-stricken Henri Matisse, who started creating his renowned cut-outs when he could no longer paint), and some still very much alive (like Mel Brooks, still joking at nearly one hundred). The remarkable lineup also includes Mary Church Terrell, who, at eighty-six, helped lead sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Washington, DC, in the 1950s, and Carol Channing, who married the love of her life at eighty-two. Additionally, there's Peter Mark Roget, who began compiling his thesaurus in his twenties and finished it at seventy-three (because sometimes finding the right word takes time).