Growing Old
Notes on ageing with something like grace
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has spent a lifetime observing the natural world, chronicling the customs of pre-contact hunter-gatherers and the secret lives of deer and dogs. In this book, the capstone of her long career, Thomas, now 88, turns her keen eye to her own life. The result is an account of growing old that is at once funny and charming, intimate and profound - both a memoir and a life-affirming map all of us may follow to embrace our later years with grace and dignity.
Growing Old explores a wide range of issues connected with ageing, from stereotypes of the elderly as burdensome to the methods of burial that humans have used throughout history to how to deal with a concerned neighbour who assumes you're buying cat food to eat for dinner.
Written with wit and compassion, this book is an expansive and deeply personal paean to the beauty and the brevity of life that offers understanding for everyone, regardless of age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Octogenarian Thomas (The Hidden Life of Dogs) tackles old age in this clever and astute memoir. From her home in rural New Hampshire, the widowed great-grandmother looks back upon her life and offers advice for readers approaching old age "a venture to the unknown." Thomas, who claims to have cheated death four times (once in Namibia when a lion charged at her), isn't afraid of dying, and she doesn't mince words when describing funerals, burial procedures, or facilities for the aged. She finds her failing memory fascinating particularly how she can't always recall people's names, but the Finnish word for sugar, which she learned from childhood caregivers, unexpectedly surfaces. Thomas touches on the challenge of technology, losing her hearing, and breaking a hip as she shares some of her unusual experiences, among them living among the San in South Africa and treasuring a tiger turd she keeps in the freezer. She offers practical tips, such as scoping out retirement communities before it's time to relocate, maintaining social ties, and keeping busy "with something you like." Marshall is an inspiring example of a life well lived, and her sense of humor, honesty, and curiosity will resonate with aging readers.
