This is the book that can show us how to turn back our biological clocks?how to put off 70% of the normal problems of aging (weakness, sore joints, bad balance) and eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury. The key to the program is found in Harry's Rules: Exercise six days a week. Don't eat crap. Connect and commit to others. There are seven rules all together, based on the latest findings in cell physiology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and experimental psychology. Dr. Lodge explains how and why they work?and Chris Crowley, who is living proof of their effectiveness (skiing better today, for example, than he did twenty years ago), gives the just-as-essential motivation.
Both men and women can become functionally younger every year for the next five to ten years, then continue to live with newfound vitality and pleasure deep into our 80s and beyond.
Love this book!
I'm frugal, so I always try to get books from the library first. I'll buy it if I REALLY like it. I LOVE this book. It's the best (re)motivator for me when I start to slack off. The biology of aging, as Harry explains it, makes perfect sense to me and Chris' chapters are hilarious and poignant and really get you excited about the possibilities for the next 40 or so years! Highly recommended.
Good for some audiences, useless for others
First of all, about the style and tone of this book. It was repetitive and not well written. The authors' illustrative stories were not all that interesting or relevant, and after the first third of the book or so I found myself skimming. This thick book is like a padded but superficial summary of the bulk of the self-help book market already out there, but provides no new information. Instead, the same basic concepts are repeated ad infinitum. Exercise. Don't eat junk. Have good relationships. Take care of yourself. And not exactly motivating to me as a woman. Lines like, "And it is at least possible that you are a big fat piggy..." come across as glib and demeaning.
This book might be revelatory or motivating to someone who has done little or no exercise, has no clue how to eat properly, or has basically done little reading at all on wellness. But even then, thick as this book is, it does not provide adequate information on starting or maintaining a sound nutrition/exercise program. If you are, like me, a woman who has been reasonably diligent about exercise and eating well and has done some reading and thinking about other basic ways of staying physically and mentally healthy, this book will have little, if anything, to offer.
Younger Next Year for Women
Chris Crowley & Dr. Lodge spelled it out for all of us. Bottom line, we all need to get off the couch and work out six days a week or we are just going to decay. I got the message loud and clear. I bought a heart monitor and I am following everything in the book. Great advise for all of us. I feel better than I have felt in years and have lost weight and inches.
Thanks to both of you.
Patti
Tucson, AZ
Younger Next Year for Women
My physician handed me a prescription with the title of this book written on it at my last check up. As I no longer seem to have the time to read in my chaotic life, I got it on audio to listen to on my daily commute. I am extremely impressed and inspired by this book. This is the only book on health that spoke both to my head and to my heart. The authors are an internal medicine doctor who specializes in gerentology and a 71 year old retired lawyer who is his patient. They explain how 70% of aging is optional/avoidable. They back it up with recent finds in the biochemistry of exercise and present the information in an evolutionary framework. The narration is a very satisfying combination of well explained science, rather witty humor, and it is bursting with optimism. It is targeted for an audience in their 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. I consider this book a life-changer ( at the ripe old age of 42! ) and have recommended it to many of my friends and co-workers. Do yourself a big favor and listen to what these guys have to say - it will improve the quality of your health and life.
Baby Boomers Bibliophile Must Have!
One of the most informative texts I have ever read on the subjects of exercise, health and diet for those of us who are over 40. Very succinct and credible. Have your hi-liter handy when reading this book.
