The Art of Aging, Sherwin B. Nuland
The Art of Aging, Sherwin B. Nuland
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The Art of Aging
A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being

Author: Sherwin B. Nuland

Narrator: Sherwin B. Nuland

Abridged: 6 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/27/2007


Synopsis

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.

About The Author

A clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, Sherwin B. Nuland is the author of numerous books including How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, which won the National Book Award; Lost in America: A Journey with My Father; Maimonides; and Leonardo da Vinci. He lives in Hamden, Connecticut.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Judy on September 14, 2009

I originally picked this book up hoping it would help me get over my dismay at the appalling number of wrinkles beginning to populate my neck and face. While Sherwin Nuland, surgeon and Yale professor, seems sympathetic to the physical perils of aging, he teaches us that "growing old is not a diseas......more

Goodreads review by Larry on February 12, 2014

Seems like I read this book almost four years ago, didn't write a review and gave it a "meh" three stars. Now I read it again looking for a counterpoint to Nuland's earlier (and I thought pessimistic) How We Die. But it turns out I like the book even less! So let me just copy and paste my current......more

Goodreads review by John on March 08, 2018

Nuland’s How We Die was an incisive and graphic book. I loved it, and looked forward to The Art of Aging—but what a deception. A better title for this book would be The Art of Pontificating. Nuland’s mantras are You must, You should, You have to, You’d better. It’s life-coaching at its worst, lumber......more

Goodreads review by Gary on February 15, 2023

Quite a few years ago I was captured by Sherwin Nuland’s award-winning book, How We Die. Reading it was an eye-opening experience for me. It was fearless and brought to the fore things we in contemporary America do not talk about in company. The Art of Aging is in a way a kind of companion volume, b......more

Goodreads review by Douglass on June 07, 2023

The Art of Aging was published by Sherwin Nuland, ~12 years after his award-winning book, How We Die. It marks the author’s literary transition from facing death squarely, to trying to deal with old age up to death. Nuland gives us numerous positive ideas about his view of the aging process: • Knowin......more