Aging Books

This is a lovely book about a very difficult subject. The first sentence sets the tone: "Last night I dreamed my mother knew my name." It's honest and right to the point. It helps families of people with Alzheimer's cope with the shifting stages of the process. And it's a fine memoir, even if you're not looking for information about the disease.

For years, retirement and financial pundits have presented their mandates for financial planning for retirement. Unfortunately, for most of us, we read these books as they shower us with guilt if he had not started saving ten percent of our salary from age eighteen.

John Wasik knows better as a senior editor with Consumer's Digest magazine. We are each and all imperfect against the mandated forumlas and ponderous pundits. In this book he tackles the subject for the gain of the arrives or is about to arrive at retirement age having started saving too late which, I trust, includes most of us.

The author/expert allays our fears and then provides the most practical analyses and recommended steps I've read anywhere. And,he writes not in complex formulas but in a straightforward and easily-understandable way.

From his recommendations, I've been able to accelerate my own retirement finance program. I have bought the books for others, each who has told me that they have gained by it.

A remarkable book.

The optimum time to read Duane M. Beaver's A Layman's Guide to a Better Retirement would be while you are still working. However, at any time you read it you'll find a lot of practical advice on so many things most of us never consider. Foremost is his emphasis on retiring happy and living a good life. He covers subjects as diverse as second careers, moving to another location and how to communicate with your spouse about retirement. This is a book I'd recommended highly.

Paul Tournier has written a book designed to enrich the life of every adult. In "Learn To Grow Old," he shares the wisdom of the art of preparing for old age, a phenomemon that most of us will experience, but for which few of us will be ready. As his book reveals, preparing for old age will actually make our young adulthood as well as our mature years more rewarding as a result. Using leisure time most effectively is a learned behavior, as is enjoying the good of what life offers. Most of us pass rapidly by the joys of life in our rush to one appointment or another, one task, one volunteer session, one social event, and the like. Tournier reminds us concretely and thoroughly that the time to live life to the fullest is in the present, in anticipation of a richer future.

World-reknowned as a psychologist and author, Tournier's authority comes in part from his background in psychology, practice in medicine, knowledge of humanity, and religion. His is sound advice and he has unforgettable wisdom to share.

If presenting unvarnished truth appears to be "sometimes overly strident", so be it. Ageism is indeed rampant unless one happens to be a white male political or corporate figure, and this book gives one the data that supports this truth.
As a physician, I find the chapter "Overmedicating Old Americans" extremely important and timely, and I feel that this book can be easily read by the general public and should be taken very seriously by Health Care and Social Service professionals.

Legal Planning for Your Parents is an easy to read resource for families needing guidance on elder care issues. The booklet provides information on legal issues facing families who are planning ahead for their parents long term care, and those who need to make informed decisions quickly. The booklet also helps you recognize the emotional issues of planning/caring for your parents as a adult child or family. Legal Planning provides practical tips, a place to write notes, and resources for more information. While this booklet does not replace the advice of a legal professional, it does help you figure out what you need to ask and how to go about advocating for your parent(s) in the legal and health care system. I'd recommend this booklet for adult children and their siblings, work/family or human resource professionals, and companies who provide resources to their employees to manage family issues and work.

This is the PERFECT birthday gift for any of your friends, who are approaching the 40th birthday crisis, and are not sure whether they should be publicly partying this year or not! The funniest page of the book though is headed 'About the Author', a must read page - beautifully succinct.

This book is an easy read, in the sense that it can be picked up and put down readily, and each chapter can stand alone. I appreciate all the resources the authors provide. From their bios, it sounds like these folks not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk!

I first bought Muriel Gillick's book Tangled Minds in 1999 when my mother-in-law was ill with Alzheimer's, and I found it a sanity saver. Dr. Gillick alternates scientific discussions of the disorder with narrative about a patient, enabling the lay-person to understand what is happening with a patient, and why. Her book saved my sanity: doctors and nursing home staff can be very reluctant to answer questions about end-of-life decisions, or even to tell you when the end is coming. After my mother-in-law's last stroke, they kept saying, day by day, "she seems much better". To me, she seemed to be dying, and Dr. Gillick's book confirmed my opinion. I was ready with information to support my husband and sister-in-law in end-of-life decisions when the time came, and to plan ahead for her death when they were too emotionally wrought to do so. As a result, she died quickly, peacefully, and painlessly in her own room, surrounded by family, and the funeral itself was not stressful and was a comfort to her family.

I've been looking for similar help in dealing with issues surrounding my husband's stepfamily. Alzheimer's is not the issue here, but Parkinson's disorder and osteoarthritis have left his stepmother very ill and frail. Dr. Gillick's book Lifelines is in a similar format to Tangled Minds, and here, too, she is able to use her information to guide families in understanding the issues of these frail adults, and in working to provide them the best quality of life possible in their last years.

This is really what this very fine and lively discussion of health and longevity is about. The deception of the public and the willingness of the public to be deceived are topics this book will inform you about. Not a book for people who want life and health to be simple and someone else's responsibility to take care of. Wonderful and very informative book about the realities of modern health care. Of value to anyone who wants to know the truth about health and longevity. It's no wonder this book has found only a small audience and is out of print.