This is a useful book, covering areas that we elders want to know about, with up-to-date advice from Dr Leipzig. And, as she explains, much medical advice is for the young and middle-aged, and doesn't always include information we need.

One of the best features of Honest Aging is how paragraph and sections often start with a question, one phrased the way an ordinary patient might ask about a symptom or condition or medication.

The index is a bit of a disappointment, since more than half of the terms I searched for were missing. They were probably in the index somewhere, but not using the words I tried. There are also lots of medical acronyms, which are always explained on their first use, but which then may show up again five pages later, by the time I've forgotten their meaning. The index does have some acronyms, but never as headwords. So if I want to look for the meaning of, say "OA" I'll only find it if I first look up "osteoarthritis", and it's unlikely I'd think to do that.

The chapters are well organized, with a fair amount of cross-indexing, but it still took time thumbing through pages searching for topics I wanted to know about.

Still, Dr Leipzig, explains clearly, covers a great deal of medical territory in this 400 page book, and lets me know things I should worry about, things less worrisome, and things of no concern. The illustrations, charts, and lists are helpful.

It's a book well worth owning. ( )