Dr. Bortz’s book about growing old deserves a spot on your bookshelf

WE LIVE TOO SHORT AND DIE TOO LONG, by Dr. Walter M. Bortz II, Bantam Books, 296 pages, $19.95.

If there is any facet Americans are noted for in their pop culture it has to be their joy in bandwagon-hopping. Most especially as those pop trends relate to “fixing” things.

The plethora of “how-to” books began in the 1950s with the Peale confident living techniques and each decade since has had its special topic. We are just tapering off from an almost fanatical food and nutrition jag, the pros and cons of which could become completely baffling. Perhaps the most that could be said for it is that it served to make us more aware that all is not as it seems in the diet world.

That awareness is all to the good since it appears that the newest bandwagon jogging into the ’90s is the subject of aging and how will our mobile society handle the problems arising in this fastest-growing segment of our population.

“We Live Too Short and Die Too Long” is far from a “pop” book. It is written by a doctor who was co-chairman of the American Medical Association Task Force on Aging and is currently a professor at Stanford University Medical School. His theory is that we have seriously limited what should be a natural life span and this misconception has created a part of our problems in adjusting to our later years.

He poses several questions such as the efficacy of diet, exercise and sleep patterns, and bolsters his conclusions with solid clinical research. However, he does not leave the lay reader adrift in charts and statistics but offers a list of eight guidelines that will determine the quality and, in some instances, the quantity of one’s remaining years.

He stresses the controllable elements in one’s life and emphasizes the importance of one’s mind-set in achieving a comfortable existence. Since he has worked with hundreds of patients over 85, he is no ivory tower pundit. He is very aware of the hazards and hang-ups of older age.

This book is not slickly written. It takes some careful perusal and thought for a reader to benefit because it ranges back and forth from home to clinic, but it is more than worth the effort. In fact, for that reason alone, it deserves a place in your permanent bookshelf, for use as a refresher course from time to time.

“We Live Too Short and Die Too Long” has been endorsed by a varied cross section of geriatric and medical authorities which bespeak its quality. Let’s hope the spate of others on the subject will live up to the standards this author has presented.

Marion Flood French is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.