Why Be Old?

How to Avoid the Psychological Reactions of Ageing

by Ainslie Meares

Fontana Books, 1975, [First Edition], ISBN 0002119951, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners inscription in pencil on front endpaper, age toned pages, newspaper article attached to back endpaper, price-clipped dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with rubbing, bumping, chipping, and creasing (see photographs)

“The major theme of this little book is quite simple.  It is this.  The disabilities of older people are not so much due to the ageing process itself as to the individual’s psychological reaction to the ageing process.  As this is in fact true, many of these disabilities can be relieved by an understanding of the psychological reactions which have brought them about.  The reader may well ask, ‘f this is so, why don’t we all avoid these reactions?’ The answer is that although these psychological reactions are really quite simple, we are unconscious of them.  We don’t realise what is going on; but when they are pointed out to us, we can see them, understand them, and take appropriate action.”