You're Looking Very Well: the Surprising Nature of Getting Old - Lewis Wolpert

[Jane B]

This is a very interesting read by a distinguished developmental biologist and octagenarian who has spent his career studying embryonic development but in this book turns his attention to the mechanics and psychology of ageing. He takles issues from ageism in the health care system, the care and wellbeing of the ageing society, to discrimination of older people by governments and society and to why we age, which he descibes as being '...because of wear and tear...ageing results from an accumulation of cellular damage and the limitations in the cell's ability to repair the damage, particularly in our DNA and proteins, and so restore normal function to the cell.'

Wolpert begins each chapter with a quote from people through history on the different aspects of ageing like this one from Groucho Marx ' Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.' and each chapter looks at a different aspect of ageing. Far from being a negative and depressing look at ageing, Wolpert's book offers many positive aspects of getting older. The main message I got from it is that if you want to age well you need a positive outlook on life, you need to keep active both physically and mentally, you need to be well educated and you need to be wealthy!