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Audiobook (abridged)6 hours
The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
In his landmark work 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 audiobook 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.
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.
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Reviews for The Art of Aging
Rating: 3.5483870967741935 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
31 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A few years back I read with great interest and enjoyment Sherwin Nuland's memoir about his immigrant father, LOST IN AMERICA. It explained a lot about the author's ambition and success as a physician and scholar. Then I began reading his best known book, HOW WE DIE, but still have not finished it. But now I have done a quick read of his THE ART OF AGING and quite enjoyed it. My own aging process hasn't been very artful, but is anyone's?In his clinical descriptions of the process, you're bound to learn something. For instance - "... testicles hang lower than they did years ago, because of loss of turgor in the skin muscle of the scrotum, a muscle called the dartos."Turgor? Dartos? Your scrotum has muscles? See what I mean? Who knew?But seriously - for this is a serious book - Nuland looks far beyond the physiological aspects of aging here, with a chapter about choices, in which he gives us three case studies of people who suffered strokes and how they coped and came back from them. One of these was actress Patricia Neal, who credits her then-husband Roald Dahl with forcing her recovery and return to acting.. Another chapter, "A Friendship in Letters" gives us Nuland's years-long correspondence with an aged Indian widow and her struggles with and recovery from suicidal depression. "Drinking from the Fountain of Youth" was an especially entertaining chapter, as Nuland related his friendship with a med school classmate, Frank Scott, inventor of an inflatable penile implant playfully labeled "the hydraulic hard-on."Later he tells us that wisdom - so often equated with age - is not just knowledge, but the proper management of knowledge. And that "caring" is vital to a happy old age. And lots more. So much more. And yes, there is wisdom here. Nuland knew how to manage his accumulated years of study and the knowledge he had gleaned. A wise man. Dr Nuland died in 2013. This is a good book, filled with useful information - and yes, wisdom. Very highly recommended.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this book. One of the best I've read so far on approaching the challenges of this stage of life with enthusiasm and creativity.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a book that caused me to think and learn; both from Dr. Nuland and from the many people he has learned from. " ... we must study how to be old."My favorite section was Nuland's discourse with Michael Debakey:"Curiosity and the seeking of knowledge is a transcendent life force. Almost you might say spiritual. It has a driven character to it. It drives you intellectually, and to an extent physiologically. The brain influences the body in ways we don't know about."I also found the discussion of Aubrey de Grey and the debate over biogerontology to be fasciating. There certainly must be a tradeoff between human lifespan and the ecology of the planet. On the other hand, having spent some time in a grove of bristlecone pines this summer, I beieve the limit to lifespan could be much higher than our current ~ 120 years.The concept of compression of morbidity was also very interesting. This is the idea that instead of a gradual decay to death, we fall apart all at once. I will close with a brief condensation of Dr. Nuland's prescription:"... beyond the pursuit of wisdom, there is a triad of factors ... that are the essential ingredients of the benisons that should come with the later decades of our lives. ... The three are:- A sense of mutual caring and connectedness with others.- The maintenance , in so far as we can influence it by our own actions, of the physical capabilities of our bodies- CreativityRemember: " ... we must study how to be old."
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5There was a lot of blathering and the authored used a few irrelevant sidebars. I was interested in the subject matter of aging but was expecting a more clinical, evidence-based approach from a doctor. This doctor instead engages in wild speculation.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Having turned 65 a few months ago, aging is frequently on my mind. I'm grateful every day that my health is inexplicably good, as is my attitude and my mental, emotional, and spiritual life.After having heard an interview with the author about a month ago (it was a rebroadcast shortly after he died), I put this book on my to-read list. I'd previously read and appreciated his HOW WE DIE book.I found the book to be a good read. I was pleased to see that I appear to be on the right path when it comes to mental, emotional, and spiritual health practices, but I need to increase my exercise.