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This is not a blog which opines on current events. It rather uses incidents, books (old and new), links and papers to muse about our social endeavours.
So old posts are as good as new! And lots of useful links!

The Bucegi mountains - the range I see from the front balcony of my mountain house - are almost 120 kms from Bucharest and cannot normally be seen from the capital but some extraordinary weather conditions allowed this pic to be taken from the top of the Intercontinental Hotel in late Feb 2020

Thursday, September 5, 2019

The irresistible rise of the "Wrinklies"

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully” Samuel Johnson

There certainly seems to be an added edge to the prose of writers who, whether for scientific or personal reasons, turn their attention to old age and the prospect of one's life ending.
I last blogged on the subject all of three years ago and a recent conversation with one of my daughters has moved me to have another look at the dozen or so books on this topic on my bookshelves – and to track down a few for inclusion in the virtual library. So the core of this post is actually an analysis of the 20 or so books I know on the subject – inspired also, I suspect, by my reading last week of the very poetic “My Father’s Wake”

Given the rise in both numbers and purchasing power of the “Wrinklies”, it is perhaps surprising that we have not attracted more innovation (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) – in fields such as housing, euthanasia and burial, let alone politics….

We do need to give more thought to how we will leave this life - but we fail to do so….both as individuals and collectively…Perhaps the title I’ve been using for one unfinished set of collected thoughts – “Dispatches to the Next Generation” – is one small gesture in that direction. Of course its focus on the mess we in the older generation have made of the world makes for a completely different sort of book than those analysed below. The hyperlinks generally give useful reviews - and sometimes the book itself...

Books about Ageing and the approach of Death


Title

Year

Genre

Comment

Links
The American Way of Death; Jessica Mitford
1963
journalism
Analysis of the crematorium business
On Death and Dying; Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross
click to get the entire book
1969
psychology
The book that gave us the “five stages of grief”
The Coming of Age; Simone de Beauvoir
1970 French
version
Breaks all disciplinary barriers!
The classic
Excerpts available on this Amazon version
The Denial of Death; Ernest Becker

1973
Cultural anthropology
A “psycho-philosophical synthesis” – all 330 pages
Hyperlink on title gives full book
The Loneliness of The Dying by Norbert Elias

1985
sociology
A short rather general book by an underrated Anglo-German  
Note on his life and work. Click title for full book
The End of Age – BBC Reith Lectures by Tom Kirkwood
2001
Gerontology

Link on the title gives podcasts
2003
Memoir
First chapter can be read in summary form here
2007
Extended essay
Good on references
A rather gentle way into the subject nicely reviewed here
2008
Memoir
Marvellous writer covers latter stages of a long life
Click the title for the entire book
The Long Life; Helen Small

2007
Literary
Written by a Professor of English language and literature
Compendium of writing about ageing over 2000 years. A good review here
2011
Popular science
Professor of Biology
Age 80 when he wrote it
Good interviews here and here
got stick from this reviewer for having too many facts and quotations and insufficient analysis 
2012
philosophy
Philosopher who knows how to tell a great tale
Click on title for full book
2013
sociology
Almost an update of de Beauvoir!
2015
Reflective medical
a very literate and humane American surgeon,
2014
Humour
was the most famous British campaigner of the second half of the century.


2015
philosophy
retired British gerontologist, poet and polymath
The Worm at the Core: on the Role of Death in Life; by S Solomon, J Greenberg and T Pyszczynski
2015
psychology
American psychologists update and popularise Becker’s thesis about our repression of death
British philosopher John Gray reviewed
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematorium” Caitlin Doughty 
2015
journalism

2017
journalism
Poetic but doesn’t deal with issues

2017
medical
A “palliative” doctor profiles in depth her patients

The Way we Die Now; Seamus O’Mahony
2017
medical
A Consultant “Gastroenterologist” 

2017
Literary journalist
An extended essay – with a nice little bibliography

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