Product Description
In his landmark book How We Die, Sherwin B. Nuland profoundly altered our perception of the end of life. Now in The Art of Aging, Dr. Nuland steps back to explore the impact of aging on our minds and bodies, strivings and relationships. Melding a scientist’s passion for truth with a humanist’s understanding of the heart and soul, Nuland has created a wise, frank, and inspiring book about the ultimate stage of life’s journey.The onset of aging can be so gradual that we are often surprised to find that one day it is fully upon us. The changes to the senses, appearance, reflexes, physical endurance, and sexual appetites are undeniable–and rarely welcome–and yet, as Nuland shows, getting older has its surprising blessings. Age concentrates not only the mind, but the body’s energies, leading many to new sources of creativity, perception, and spiritual intensity. Growing old, Nuland teaches us, is not a disease but an art–and for those who practice it well, it can bring extraordinary rewards.“I’m taking the journey even while I describe it,” writes Nuland, now in his mid-seventies and a veteran of nearly four decades of medical practice. Drawing on his own life and work, as well as the lives of friends both famous and not, Nuland portrays the astonishing variability of the aging experience. Faith and inner strength, the deepening of personal relationships, the realization that career does not define identity, the acceptance that some goals will remain unaccomplished–these are among the secrets of those who age well.Will scientists one day fulfill the dream of eternal youth? Nuland examines the latest research into extending life and the scientists who are pursuing it. But ultimately, what compels him most is what happens to the mind and spirit as life reaches its culminating decades. Reflecting the wisdom of a long lifetime, The Art of Aging is a work of luminous insight, unflinching candor, and profound compassion.From the Hardcover edition.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 25 reviews)

A Wise and Provocative Book by Susan A. Lieberman (Houston, TX)

5 Stars
August 19, 2009
This book made me smarter about what to expect in the coming decades (I'm 67) and wiser about how I might deal with what comes. It is both provoctive...in that I am, weeks later, still thinking about issues the book raised...and supportive. For me, understanding reduces anxiety. Nuland writes accessibly and, by the end of the book, I felt it would be pleasure to have him for a friend as well as a doctor. The friend who recommended the book said,"Oh, you will know most of what is in it." But even though I am married to a physician and have read widely on aging, I did know most of what was in it...and am glad I now do. I recommend this book highly to anyone on the deep end of middle age.

Powerful and extremely valuable by Trudie Barreras

5 Stars
July 12, 2009
"The Art of Aging" is the fourth of Dr. Nuland's books that I have read, and for me it is the most powerful and personally valuable. It is one of those books that I sincerely wish had been available to me in my own "middle age", when I would have had the opportunity to apply many more of his wonderful insights not only to myself, but perhaps to my relationship with my own elderly parents, both of whom are now deceased. As it is, I have every intention of sharing this exceptional work with my own daughters, in the hope that they will find it as valuable as I do, at a time when it may give them some meaningful insights at opportune times.

Wonderful, thoughtful analysis of aging by David W. Dorn (Livermore, CA United States)

5 Stars
February 18, 2009
This book presents a new way of looking at the process of aging that is refreshing and encouraging. It has led us to continue to look forward to all that is to come!

A lot wasted on me, one extra star for Aubrey de Grey portrayal by jj2me (Red Bank, NJ United States)

4 Stars
August 25, 2008
Some good takeaways: - One of the people highlighted (he seemed to fill chapters with anecdotes of various people) said that if you examine a problem long enough, you'll see your part in it. - The best written portrayal, in my opinion, of Aubrey de Grey, who mainstream media is treating like a wise man speaking scientific truths. I take exception, though, when the author used the word "genius" once in the portrayal. I go back to what the autistic author Temple Grandin once said in an interview: "highly verbal people are illogical." This describes de Grey, a left-brained egomaniac. (When you feel a person has dazzled you with words but you come away not really knowing what they said, instead of concluding that they're brilliant, remember Grandin's words.) - Great conclusions in the Aubrey de Grey chapter, that the world may not end from evil intentions, but from good intentions gone awry. Wasted on me: - His stories of doctor colleagues and friends, e.g., the narrative about Dr. Michael Debakey. I got absolutely nothing out of these portrayals, they seemed to convey no information about aging, other than giving anecdotes that seemed almost fawning over people who were just following the drives they had in younger years. - Mrs. Chaterjee's story. I also couldn't comprehend why he wouldn't just meet with her when she was in town. Though maybe it's because I'm not a doctor, nor ever had any job like his--probably a lack understanding of his position. But it threw me, I found myself asking, "What's with all this agonizing and hiding? What kind of person is this author?" At least he was honest about his behavior. I'm open that maybe I missed the whole point of the Chaterjee story, like maybe to present the despair side of aging. Four stars because he has a good mind, some good thoughts. But overall, I couldn't really recommend this book to a friend. Though I leave open the possibility that others might get more out of it than I did.

Insightful, well constructed, helpful book by Jack C (Hebron, CT USA)

5 Stars
August 09, 2008
The construction of this book leads the reader through very thoughtful and interesting research into the issues confronting seniors and whose bodies have strayed from an earlier self image. As a physician/scientist Dr. Nuland distills the insights of truly remarkable accomplished and ordinary seniors into clear prescriptions from which the reader can select to greet successfully this age old new life challenge.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	How We Live by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author) "An anatomy of human life, vividly illustrated. . . . Awe-inspiring [and] sublimely uplifting." --Time Having won the National Book Award for How We Die, his best-selling inquiry into the causes and modes of death, Sherwin Nuland now turns his attention to the miraculous resiliency of human life. For this lucid, wonderful, and wonder-filled new book explores the body's mysterious capacity to marshal disparate organs and processes in the interests of survival. Like its...
	How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author) Attempting to demythologize the process of dying, Nuland explores how we shall die, each of us in a way that will be unique. Through particular stories of dying--of patients, and of his own family--he examines the seven most common roads to death: old age, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, accidents, heart disease, and strokes, revealing the facets of death's multiplicity. "It's impossible to read How We Die without realizing how earnestly we have avoided this most unavoidable of subjects, how...
	The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author) “Life is short, and the Art so long; the occasion fleeting; experience fallacious; and judgment difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and the externals, cooperate.” –attributed to Hippocrates, c. 400 B.C.E. The award-winning author of How We Die and The Art of Aging, venerated physician Sherwin B. Nuland has now written his most thoughtful and engaging book. The Uncertain Art is a superb...
	The Soul of Medicine: Tales from the Bedside by Sherwin Nuland (Author) Like all doctors, Sherwin Nuland collects stories, and over thirty years in the practice of surgery, he has collected a consider number of both his own stories as well as the stories of surgeons he has worked with and admires. The remarkable stories told in this book are filled with the lessons of humanity. They describe that sacrosanct connection between two people we call the doctor-patient relationship, and that othe relationship between the mentor and student, so important to the...
	Doctors: The Biography of Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author) "An erudite history of medicine...a welcome addition to any medical collection." -- Booklist How does medical science advance? Popular historians would have us believe that a few heroic individuals, possessing superhuman talents, lead an unselfish quest to better the human condition. But as renowned Yale surgeon and medical historian Sherwin B. Nuland shows in this brilliant collection of linked life portraits, the theory bears little resemblance to the truth. Through the centuries, the men...