The Fountain of Age

Not only is the book well written and thoroughly researched but the content is superb. Ms. Friedan hits every major issue related to aging in a personal and exploratory style. I love her voice and tone throughout. Don't pass this one up!

Betty Friedan's THE FOUNTAIN OF AGE is an excellent overview of how America views older people. She eschews all forms of discrimination from warehousing the elderly in nursing homes, separating older people from society in the retirement communities, and the negative attitudes of the medical profession toward this population. Older people are not decrepit poor things. Older people have the capacity to keep learning and growing. Just as she revolutionized women's roles in THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE, Ms. Friedan does the same for THE AGE MYSTIQUE. The book is beautifully written and meticulously researched. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

I'm only forty and was drawn to this book because of what Betty Friedan has created for women in this century. I was delightfully surprised to find a book about "aging" was engaging for me. Her wonderful insights and perspectives have forever changed my outlook on getting older, and the examples and studies she cites have challenged not only my stereotypes, but allows me to challenge those of friends, families and doctors! This is a must read, REGARDLESS of your age! Perhaps even, the younger you are (to an extent!), the more profound these realities will be. I really enjoyed the audio book, which she reads herself, and plan to purchase the hard copy to have on hand to read again.

The fact that there is only 1 customer review on this tome of a book does not diminish its importance. It simply validates what the author is saying about people denying they're getting older. My zen book comforts me: For the ignorant, old age is winter; For the learned, it is harvest. Since this book was published Friedan has written yet another book, an autobiography. I am impressed with her vigor and intelligence.

Everything you wanted to know about aging but didn't know to ask. Encyclopedic in scope, every conceivable issue surrounding age, personal or political, is covered. The book stemmed from Friedan's personal journey in facing her own aging and therefore covers well the personal and introspective issues that may be left out of a book devoted to the "problems" of aging. The overall theme is one of aging as a necessary and to-be-relished stage of life, with its own tasks, rather than being simply the end of life. There is much repetition of material from one section of the book to the next, which is sometimes distracting. However, each section and each chapter is a stand-alone essay, giving the work a value as a reference. Awesome. Inspiring.