In his last book, How We Age, Dr. Marc Agronin wrote passionately about how we need to place greater value on our elders and hope for a better old age, even in the throes of illness and dementia. But he doesn't want us to simply gaze at the holiness of old age, nor does he want us searching for some magical Fountain of Youth that doesn't exist now and won't exist in the foreseeable future. Nearly every other book on the market takes these approaches, and the messages are predictable, tiresome, and largely untrue. At the Miami Jewish Health System (MJHS), Agronin sees both the sickest and the healthiest of seniors, what works and what doesn't. Many authors can talk about aging from their particular vantage points, but Agronin is on the front lines as he counsels and treats elderly individuals and their families and friends on a daily basis. All of the latest scientific research combined with Agronin's first-hand experience can be distilled into a simple and yet unheard of formula: age is the solution and not the problem for many late-life changes and challenges. This approach stops looking at aging as an implacable enemy, as most other books on aging do, but casts it instead as a potential developmental force for enhancing well-being, meaning, and longevity. Agronin presents readers with a model of aging that can help them understand all of these changes. It is based on two novel concepts: age points, which describe the key life transitions that come with age and teach us how to age better; and age culture, the product of a rich and diversified aging life. These concepts are sustained by the cognitive and spiritual reserve we build up with age, the resilience that guides us through stress and tragedy, and the ability to renew and re-inventourselves in a changing world. At the same time, we cannot forget the so-called "9th stage" of life as first defined by Erik and Joan Erikson, encompassing those aged individuals beset by severe physical and cognitive loss or diseas
Author of How We Age and leading gerontologist Marc Agronin presents a hopeful model of aging supported by scientific research and his own experience--a guide to understanding how we can make the journey better.
