I agree with Nick Cohen: "One of the most unjustly neglected books of the year is Bryan Appleyard's How to Live Forever or Die Trying." Unfortunately, it hasn't been published in the U.S.
As someone well past 50, I suppose I should find this depressing: "The truth is that the young (meaning anybody under 50), however well-meaning, are impatient of or disgusted by the old. And they are confirmed in their prejudice by the unfortunate fact that even the most expensive modern medicine, though it may keep you alive, does not, as yet, rejuvenate. Once you're old, you stay old. Most damagingly, cognitive ability declines and nothing more effectively encourages impatience in the young than elderly forgetfulness or mental incompetence."
Only I haven't found my cognitive ability declining yet - not that it was ever at Einsteinian levels - and I have sometimes been appalled to encounter ignorance, credulity, and lack of curiosity on the part of the young.
As someone well past 50, I suppose I should find this depressing: "The truth is that the young (meaning anybody under 50), however well-meaning, are impatient of or disgusted by the old. And they are confirmed in their prejudice by the unfortunate fact that even the most expensive modern medicine, though it may keep you alive, does not, as yet, rejuvenate. Once you're old, you stay old. Most damagingly, cognitive ability declines and nothing more effectively encourages impatience in the young than elderly forgetfulness or mental incompetence."
Only I haven't found my cognitive ability declining yet - not that it was ever at Einsteinian levels - and I have sometimes been appalled to encounter ignorance, credulity, and lack of curiosity on the part of the young.
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