Life expectancy

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of how long an organism may live, based on the year of their birth, their current age and other demographic factors including sex. At a given age, life is expected to cease. The most commonly used measure of life expectancy is life expectancy at age zero; that is, at birth (LEB), which can be defined in two ways: while cohort LEB is the mean length of life of an actual birth cohort (all individuals born a given year) and can be computed only for cohorts that were born many decades ago, so that all their members died, period LEB is the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort assumed to be exposed since birth until death of all their members to the mortality rates observed at a given year.

Life Expectancy (novel)

Life Expectancy is a novel by suspense/horror writer Dean R. Koontz. The plot centers on five pivotal moments in the life of a self-proclaimed "lummox" named James "Jimmy" Tock.

Plot summary

James Tock was born in Snow County Hospital in Colorado and at the exact moment his grandfather, Josef Tock, a pastry chef, dies of a stroke. Though crippled by a stroke earlier in the week, moments before his death, Josef recovers miraculously to impart on his son Rudy ten cryptic predictions: that his grandchild will be named James—but notes everyone will call him Jimmy. Josef also predicts five terrible days to come in his grandson's life. Coherent though bizarre his speech may be, Josef Tock does not recover from his event, but expires right when the baby is born.

Earlier in the evening, Rudy Tock made the acquaintance of a strange man, Konrad Beezo. Beezo is a clown for the very circus Tock's pass is for, and is a fitful, spiteful, creepy, chain smoking individual half in his clown costume. His wife Natalie, a trapeze artist of some renown and born of a good family, is lying in childbirth, says he, and her relatives have virtually disowned her for marrying him. He speaks glowingly of his soon-to-be-born son, who is to be named "Punchinello", and will carry on the fine tradition of clowning. He speaks venomously of his father-in-law, using many colorful epithets.