Although aging has never been popular in the Western world, and the study of aging has only recently become a respected profession, the publication of books on aging certainly has become the vogue. However, too often these volumes contain little more than excerpted information from larger, more informative texts, or worse still, despite their titles, they contain little about geriatrics or gerontology. Occasionally, however, an author presents information which is both new and exciting, or compiles information which clarifies the special issues involved in studying and caring for the old. The four books under review demonstrate many of the best and the worst features of recent publications in gerontology.
That the old have systematicahy been excluded from epidemiologic studies in the past ]l] makes the WHO monograph on epidemiology all the more interesting. The goal stated in the introduction of considering "how the elderly could be helped to remain healthy and independent and to continue to play an active role in society" (p. 7) is indeed lofty, and one that is served in at least some small way by this publication. The demographics on aging, including data from many countries, form a useful resource to anyone studying the elderly. The information, albeit sometimes brief, on survival curves, maximum life-span, parent/child ratios, structure of familial households, widowhood, migration, and economics makes this a concise and useful compendium of facts and references that will assist further investigation. And the tables and graphs will certainly be copied by many of us, always on the look-out for suitable slide material. In a rapid scan of recent literature in the epidemiology of aging, the text discusses