The next installation in the School of Life's philosophical self-help series explores how to approach aging in a youth-obsessed society. Anne Karpf, a writer, medical sociologist, award-winning journalist and the author of How To Age (Picador, 2015), discusses the book and the philosophy.
.@AnneKarpf says she wouldn't want to be 34 or even 54 again, bc she's got a much better sense of what's important in life at her age now.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 27, 2015
.@AnneKarpf: It's a privilege to age...people all around the world would be glad to have our wrinkles and longevity.
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 27, 2015
Aging is an intrinsic part of life, says @AnneKarpf. "You can't be anti-aging, it's like saying you're anti-breathing."
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 27, 2015
.@AnneKarpf: Aging brings us closer to death, but all the more reason to celebrate it because it means we're still alive!
— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) March 27, 2015
Anne Karpf offers “homework” or further reading in her book How to Age. Here are a few of the works she cites:
- "The Double Standard of Aging" by Susan Sontag, Saturday Review, September 1972 (PDF)
- Growing Old in America, by David Hackett Fischer
- Growing Old Disgracefully, by Helen Co-op
- The Imaginary Time Bomb: Why an Ageing Population is Not a Social Problem, by Phil Mullan
- Age-ing to Sage-ing, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
- The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body From Rusting, by Marie de Hennezel
- The Fountain of Age, by Betty Friedan