Late Bloomers

Anna Mary Robertson Moses — better known as Grandma Moses — did not begin to paint until she was 75… Harlan David Sanders — better known as Colonel Sanders — didn’t start his Kentucky Fried Chicken company until the age of 65 — but went on to become one of the most successful businessmen of his generation. The Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn competed in his first Olympic games in 1908, when he was sixty years old. He won two gold and one bronze medals — and when he turned 72, became not only the oldest Olympian ever, but the oldest medalist in history…

Read this adapted excerpt from Maria Konnikova’s forthcoming book on Sherlock Holmes, even though there aren’t any Sherlock references in it. Here, she talks about whether intelligence is fixed or something that you can choose to develop as you get older. What new skill are you busting out at your retirement party? (Don’t say “breakdancing.”)