A fascinating book about growing older, which looks at what all of
us can aspire to. 'I have a fond hope that in old age there may
be new kinds of time and of pleasure, perhaps even new kinds of
vitality, and that, though we forget and muddle and fail to hear
things, there may be moments when we truly understand what is going
on for the first time.'
Ever since I have inhabited old age, I have looked and listened,
mostly in vain, for news of what it is like for others who inhabit
it too. Naturally, I'm interested in its well-known
depredations, the physical and mental ones that people in their
forties and fifties so publicly dread. And who would not delight in
the theatrical props of old age - the pills and sticks, the
shrieking hearing aids and the tricks for countering the loss of
names and threads and glasses. But that's not all. I have a
fond hope that in old age there may be new kinds of time and of
pleasure, perhaps even new kinds of vitality, and that, though we
forget and muddle and fail to hear things, there may be moments
when we truly understand what's going on for the first time.
But then I've always been a late developer. Deeply thoughtful,
wry and resilient, this fascinating and absorbing book about
growing older is a life-enhancing look at what all of us - if we
are lucky - can aspire to.
Jane Miller first worked in publishing, then as an English teacher and finally at the London University Institute of Education. She retired as Professor Emeritus in 1998.
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