Aronson, Louise
"For more than 5
000 years
"old" has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70. That means most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood
and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the very moment that humans are living longer than ever before
we've made old age into a disease
a condition to be dreaded
denigrated
neglected
and denied. Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients
and draws from history
science
literature
popular culture
and her own life to weave a vision of old age that's neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy -- a vision full of joy
wonder
frustration
outrage
and hope about aging
medicine
and humanity itself."--