Reviews (2)

Save you money!
If you consider taking OTCs pain relieviers and managing stress "home remedies," waste...er, spend your money on this overhyped collection of the same-old, same-old. If you want "real" home remedies, stick with the original books -- Home Remedies 1 and 2. This book is weak in its reporting and writing and fails to mention many of the current "in the news" health concerns (and promised solutions) for the elderly.

If you think Ibuprofen is a "Home Remedy" You'll Love This.
I found this book condescending and weak on useful health advice.Despite the "home remedies" title, the book's solution for just about anything that ails you is Ibuprofen. I expected far more emphasis onnon-prescription health solutions from a book with the title "homeremedies".The book's heavy emphasis on the side effects ofprescription drugs made it clear that the authors assumed that the averagesenior is a prescription drug junkie and there is nothing in this book thatwill help such junkies kick their habits. Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Alternative Therapies    3. Consumer Health    4. Diet / Health / Fitness    5. Elderly    6. Health and hygiene    7. Health/Fitness    8. Medicine, Popular    9. Older people    10. Self-care, Health   

Reviews (5)

A quality reference for soon-to-be retirees searching for a "user-friendly" guide in preparing for retirement
Very highly recommended and informative reading, Invent Your Retirement: Resources For The Good Life by Art Koff is a quality reference for soon-to-be retirees searching for a "user-friendly" guide in preparing for retirement. Educating readers on all aspects and foresight into retirement, Invent Your Retirement covers a decision process consisting of tips and tactics to determine an ideal residential location, longevity via exercise, working, volunteering, further schooling, dietary adjustments, adopting a pet, understanding memory loss, beginning a business or home office, becoming computer literate, protecting credit, funding retirement, estate planning, investment strategies, insightful health matters, prescription drugs, assisted living, long-term care insurance, nursing homes, and understanding how Social Security and Medicare. Invent Your Retirement is a superb collection of useful and instructive material for successful retired living.
"Invent your Retirement" IS a great resource for the good life.
As an RN I found Invent Your Retirement to be a very informative book.It is an excellent resource for those thinking about retirement as well as seniors who have already retired. The book is clearly written and provides concise information. We don't just stop when we retire.Art Koff understands this and explores ways seniors can stay intellectually active, keep health care coverage and medical costs down and, suggests places where seniors who want to work can apply to get part time or temporary employment.This book is filled with web sites that yield valuable information.It sensitively but thoroughly explores emotional issues such as assisted living, memory loss and, estate planning.It is very easy to read and is written is an uncomplicated and straightforward manner.I found it insightful and educational.I highly recommend it if you either are a senior, have a loved one who is a senior, or are approaching your retirement.I give it 5 stars.

For now or for the future - a must read
Reviewed by Robert Watson for Reader Views (4/06)
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Subjects:  1. Aging - Retirement    2. Family / Parenting / Childbirth   

Subjects:  1. Alcohol use    2. Alcoholism    3. Alcoholism (Psychiatric Aspects)    4. Gerontology    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Middle aged persons    7. Middle-aged persons    8. Nursing - Gerontology    9. Older people    10. Psychology    11. Psychology Of The Aged    12. Psychopathology - Addiction    13. Treatment   

Reviews (1)

Aunexpected surprize
I was buying this book for a dear friend and decided to read it first before giving it to her.This book was such a quick read.
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Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. General    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Women   

Reviews (1)

Interesting Guide
This slim little book is an ideal guide for anyone working with older adults, particularly Alzhiemer's patients.It suggests that by reminisincing people find a sense of self identity and can better traintheir mind to retain memory and boost self-confidence.An interestingtherapeutic approach. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. Diet / Health / Fitness    3. Diseases - Alzheimer's & Dementia    4. Family & Relationships / Aging    5. Family & Relationships / Eldercare    6. Health/Fitness    7. Healthy Living    8. Medical    9. Neurology - General    10. Aging parents    11. Caregiving    12. Eldercare    13. Family & Relationships    14. Home care    15. Services For The Aged   

Reviews (2)

An invaluable find! Recommended for everyone!
I picked up this book after reading about it in Michelle Singletary's column. I can't believe I never knew it existed. I have been struggling to handle my parents'finances and stressing about how to do it fairly, without upsetting my brother and causing family discord. Finally, I've found good, solid advice on exactly how to do this. Not only is this book essential for anyone in my position, but I highly recommend it for anyone who thinks that someday they might be taking care of someone else's finances.

Buy this book if you have a parent who needs your care
This book is solutions focused. It offers concise advice that is really helpful. Learn how to broach the tough money questions with parents who never talked with their kids about sex or money. Then learn exactly what to do to improve your parents finances and your own, and their, peace of mind.I recommend it highly! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Adult children of aging parent    3. Aging parents    4. Business & Economics    5. Consumer Finance    6. Finance, Personal    7. Human Resources & Personnel Management    8. Investments    9. Personal Finance    10. Personal Finance - General    11. Retirement Plans    12. Retirement income    13. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General   

Reviews (7)

Extremely good place to start
I am a psychiatrist who has referred this book to many families to help provide examples and insights regarding the care of parents with dementia. This is not a "perfect" book with cookbook instructions of what to do and when to do it. This is initially a painfully frank discussion of the author's experiences with her mother's illness and the author's ambivalence regarding the illness. Valuable, practical guide to caring for Alzheimer's parent
Sherry Bell's Visiting Mom is a practical guide to caring for a person with Alzheimer's, including coping with the difficult decision to institutionalize a parent.Sherry's concern for her mother's well-being and happiness is evident throughout the book, and she offers some very specific suggestions for making the visit more productive and more pleasant for all members of the family.Her agonizing over the ultimate decision to put her mother in a nursing home is a reminder that this action induces guilt in everyone, no matter how hard they have worked to maintain a good quality of life and to look out for the parent's best interests. Hate to be the lone dissenting voice here...
...but the book was a wee bit of a disappointment for me.Read more

Subjects:  1. Diseases - Nervous System (incl. Brain)    2. Eldercare    3. Family & Relationships / Motherhood    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. General    6. Health & Fitness    7. Health & Fitness / Diseases / Nervous System (incl. Brain)    8. Health Care Delivery    9. Health/Fitness    10. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (6)

Great book
I will be fifty years old on February 17, 2004, if the Lord allows.This book is interesting, inspiring and worth the money; and it has great photographs.Not done reading it yet--I wanted to save some of the goodness for later.Please check it out--it makes a great coffee-table book as well.

Joining the club
As one just becoming a member of the Fifty-and-Going-Strong Club, I found this book a wonderful and appropriate birthday gift.The women selected represent a variety of success stories and life-style choices and left me tantalized - hungry for more information about each of them.They look terrific, value balance in their lives, look forward to the future, and make me proud to be a baby-boomer-woman-mother-professional woman.Fifty CELEBRATE Fify, indeed!Twenty- and thirty-somethings, check it out.

fifty celebret fifty
Very disappointed, most women interviewed did not express how they felt, what they do to stay in shape ie diet,exercise,activities, advice on looking and feeling young and how they view life today verses yesterday.More or less it talked about their careers and who they are married to if any. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Middle age    3. Middle aged women    4. Middle-aged women    5. Psychological aspects    6. Psychology    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. United States    11. Women's Studies - General    12. Biography & Autobiography / Women    13. Self-Help & Practical Interests    14. Sociology, Social Studies    15. women   

Reviews (12)

A memoir worth remembering
This is Sue Miller's first nonfiction book about her father, James Nichols, who started showing signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD) well before he was picked up by the police after getting lost while driving his car. That incident, however, proved to be the moment of truth for his family yet Miller explains the tendency to repeatedly deny the disease: "It came and went anyway, and so again and again I was able to argue myself out of acknowledging it." Instances of acceptance are described too as she notes, "I found out there were still things I could learn from him, still things he could teach me, things that helped bring him home in my memory from the faraway land of his disease." Miller describes her father's slow progression through the disease and the resulting transitions from home care to different levels of residential care. She has few compliments for professional caregivers, suggesting that staff and families alike did not know how to care for persons with dementia when her father was diagnosed in 1986.
Thorough Research Except For Hospice Service
3/15/05Sue Miller's ability to show her father's decline from calm and compassionate to defensive ,often combative[ less selflessness :except in the latter section in the book where his concern in his dillusion thatchildren had died in a fire] which had been no more than a "late night" fire drill at the 'Sutton Hill' Retirement Community Center, is a tribute to her as a biographer and an autobiographer (She speaks in "the 1st person").However, Pgs 149-153 , with 1.her father(Professor James Nichols)'s physician estimate that he has only a couple of weeks or less to live, and 2. with the issue and authorization of "DNR"(Do Not Resuscitate)and 3. with the exit of his physician,(she came to see him no more,leaving the "dying to 'the Hospice Service'and the Nursing Homes'nursing services) ,4.the entrance of "the Hospice Service",5.the morphine injections(less injections than Miller wanted for him) to annihilate the pain which he was apparently experiencing",5.the schedules and manner of feeding food or liquids ,6. the rituals of reading (mostly scriptures) or hymn singing by Miller summarizes this "climax" in only 5 pages while elongating from the second half of Pg 153-171 ,a perspective of her retrospects and thoughts(which makes these ending pages(149-171),more a fine essay than a strong epilogue.

An excellent writer tackles a problem many of us share
Perhaps I am a bit jaded; my father-in-law is in the late stages of dementia, and over the years I have read many books written by relatives who watch over a loved one's decline into this disease.
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Subjects:  1. 1943-    2. 20th century    3. Aging parents    4. Alzheimer's disease    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Family    9. Family relationships    10. General    11. Literary    12. Miller, Sue,    13. Novelists, American    14. Patients    15. Personal Memoirs    16. Specific Groups - General    17. United States    18. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

From hitting the weights to putting your job in perspective, the 400-plus-page Read more

Reviews (2)

Great all around advise...
The book gives excellent advise on maintaining a healthy lifestyle for living a long life. I am 39 and wish I would have read this book years ago...

Good advice on how to look and feel better
I was a little leery about purchasing this book.So many of the diet or fitness books that are available are either full of "fluff" and contain little valuable information or they are filled with trendy, speculative, and untested recommendations.I was pleasantly surprised by this one.This program is filled with solid advice on a variety of topics including exercise, diet, relaxation, and supplements.It even has sections that deal with hair care, skin care, grooming, and clothing styles. Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. Aging - General    3. Diet / Health / Fitness    4. Health & Fitness    5. Health and hygiene    6. Health/Fitness    7. Longevity    8. Men    9. Men's Health    10. Prevention   

Reviews (8)

Basically the book is grossly incomplete and a total waste of money
Any one who says this book is is anything above a D is not telling the truth. The book offers next to nothing in real information. Basically the book is better than nothing but any one who can read and write will immediately see the book is almost a complete waste of time to buy and read, do to the almost total lack of any real information. Basically most of the book is a total waste of good paper and the writers need to learn how to write and how to research infomation before they attempt to write any book.The information required in each chapter in this book is far above the capabilities of the writers who wrote this book. The so called writers here would be better off doing something that does not require research or writing of any kind.
Not much to go on
While this book provided some general information about lifestyle and local culture, it lacked any serious details required by someone looking to retire abroad.In particular the tax information was at best irrelevant and at worst incorrect and misleading.Many of the Additional Resources and Useful Websites are out of date. Good for General "Wishing" or to start planning
This guide has general tips and contacts for what are the top overseas retirement destinations for Americans.For each country there are suggested locations and real estate options that would be of use to retirees.Locations that have substantial US/UK populations are also noted, for the not-quite-so adventurous.As stated above, this work is most useful for someone who's maybe thinking about living overseas, and wants to look at the pro's and cons.OR, convincing your "Significant Other" that yes you can actually live at that great vacation spot on Crete....Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - Retirement    2. Americans    3. Foreign countries    4. General    5. Reference    6. Reference - General    7. Reference - Guides (General)    8. Retirement, Places of    9. Travel    10. Living & working abroad    11. Retirement   

Reviews (2)

Midlife My Behind
This compilation of stories is not as good as suggested.There are a few gems hidden within but for the most part, these tales mean far more to the authors than they did to this reader.

very worthwhile
This is an great anthology with a nice variety of pieces by some excellent women authors. I found it to be thought provoking, moving, andfun to read. I think many ( most, all) women over 40 would like this book. It is not a "self help" book in the style of articles you see in women's magazines although the title sounds like it might be. It is however very helpful to hear the articulate voices of intellegent women who are facing many the same issues. I liked being introduced to new writers that I had not read before and will now look for other things they have written. Many of the writers are from western states and liked that as I am too.If you are an intelligent woman over 40 years old who likes good writing. I would say- buy this book ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Biography    3. Middle age    4. Middle-aged women    5. Psychology    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - General    9. Sociology Of Women    10. Women's Studies - General    11. Social Science / Women's Studies   

Reviews (1)

Important Text for Professionals
This important text offers chapters from 44 well known authors on topicsfrom theology to social science theory as well as ministry and pastoralpsychology.This book won the award for one of the 10 most important booksto be ready by Parish Clergy.Packed with insights and important researchthis book is a key tool for both researchers and practitioners. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Prayer    3. Religion    4. Religion - Inspirational/Spirituality    5. Spirituality - General    6. Christian spirituality   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Services For The Aged    3. Social Services & Welfare    4. Social Work    5. Social Work Techniques    6. Social work with older people    7. Social work with the aged    8. Sociology    9. Care of the elderly   

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. Aging - General    3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    4. Gerontology    5. Older people    6. Religion    7. Social Gerontology    8. Social Science    9. Social aspects    10. Social conditions    11. Sociology of Religion    12. United States    13. Elderly    14. Religion / General   

Reviews (4)

Coping With Life Changes
I was really glad to discover this book.Several friends in their fifties and sixties are coping with clearing out Mom's stuff so she can move into an assisted living facility.Quite a few also have to clear out a lifetime's accumulation of their own, so they can retire and relocate.
At the Crossroads
Moving On is "a practical guide to downsizing the family home."It is full of practical suggestions as to how to tackle the concrete task of emptying a house, how to categorizethe multitude of things that accumulate over the years, what to do with them, how to keep the things one wants to keep and how to dispose of the things one wants to get rid of.But this is a book that is by no means only about things.It is very much a book about people, the first generation ofpeople who collect things, write things, hoard things, love things, and the next generation ofpeople who necessarily have the task of deciding what to do with all these things.
I wish I'd had this years ago
If only I could have used this book several years ago when my sister and I had to move my mother out of her home of 40 years! Linda Hetzer and Janet Hulstrand are warm, witty writers who get right to the point in this short, concise, and immensely helpful book. Now I'll save it to use myself when it is time for me to move to smaller or different quarters, and I'll advise my daughter to consider it her handbook. This is a much-needed addition to "how-to" books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cleaning & Caretaking - General    2. Do-It-Yourself    3. Home Improvement / Construction    4. House & Home    5. House cleaning    6. Family & Relationships / Aging    7. Housing & property for the individual   

Subjects:  1. Adult children of aging parents    2. Aging    3. Aging - General    4. Aging parents    5. Care    6. Eldercare    7. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    8. Family relationships    9. Parenting - Parent & Adult Child    10. Self-Help    11. Care of the elderly    12. Coping with old age   

Reviews (1)

like life- bits and pieces
This is a fascinating combination of two aged giants in developmental theory, Joan and Erik Erikson, together (as is fitting with the aged authors) a geronotologist. Like old age, it is a combination of memories of more solid, middle aged times and theories, and loose ends of currentlife. The stories from Berkeley seniors seems to be planted with a history- much like our lives as old people are current harvest of today and much filled memories. I found it surprizing thatlike my old life, new accomodations are found. In particular, the number of people interacting with dead spouses I found a welcome secret.
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Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. General    3. Psychology    4. Sociology - General    5. Child & developmental psychology    6. Elderly   

Reviews (3)

A story that celebrates the simple things in life
Dominican teenager Elvis Checo is hired by Margaret Oliver's daughter as a companion to the elderly woman. Both the young man and the old woman luck out as each finds their soulmate of sorts.
The inspirational story of an unlikely friendship
"When she met Elvis, she gave him a shy and friendly smile. He gave her a big smile back. But she wondered. What would a teenager want with her --- someone rolling around in a wheelchair, who relished opera, who didn't use a computer, who couldn't even get the infernal remote control to work?...Elvis was thinking something altogether different. He wondered, what would an old woman want with him --- a moody teenager from another part of the world, still trying to decipher girls, who relaxed with video games and rap music, who liked to toss down a few beers with the guys?"
Good, but no Tuesday's with Morrie
Don't go into this book expecting another Mitch Albom masterpiece.Unlike 'Tuesdays,' this book is not written by the teacher or the student.Reading Albom's personal relationship with his professor added a certain importance.Here, it is a 3rd person observer.Granted, Sonny Kleinfield has a way with words.However, often times during the book, I kept wondering how whatever method Kleinfield used to gather his personal quotes just had to take away from some of the intimacy not just between the characters in the book, but between the reader and the book.His task was surely difficult, no doubt, and not to say he failed, but it just doesn't add up to the personal feelings you experienced with Albom.
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Subjects:  1. Aging - General    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Friendship    7. General    8. Regional Subjects - MidAtlantic    9. Social Classes    10. Social Sciences (General)    11. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

When the joints start to ache, the salary dwindles, and freedom is yours at last, it's time to reflect upon where you'd like to spend your retirement years. Your obligations are few and the world is your oyster. If you're approaching those golden years, John Howell's guide to retirement living is a boon. It's not about retirement communities, it's about the towns and cities of the United States--what they offer the senior citizen in terms of recreation, culture, health care, and lifestyle; what to expect from their weather; and how much it costs to live in them. Howells investigates the relative tax burdens of each state, looking at property taxes, sales taxes, and whether each taxes pensions and Social Security. He also ranks the cost of living for housing, groceries, and utilities; provides the daily high and low temperatures; and lists the amounts of rain and snowfall across the seasons. From Georgia's Valdosta (population 40,000 and nicknamed "Azalea City") to Washington's Bellingham (18 miles from Canada, views of the San Juan Islands to the west and Mount Baker to the east), Howells paints portraits of more than 150 communities and their surroundings. Doubling as a guide for exploratory vacations and a pointer for anyone looking for a better place to live, Howells's research answers all the relevant questions. Read more

Reviews (9)

A solid primer - sorting out the best places
I took `Where to Retire' with me (along with several good State guides - like Fodor's) when I went on a sixteen day journey through three Southwestern States(Nevada, Arizona & New Mexico) where I was looking for "the place"to relocate and semi-retire.Howells' guide gave me a `leg up' onthe destinations that were `definite maybes'.The guide was extremely valuable in leading me to destinations I would not have considered without the guide.(Las Cruces and Ruidoso in New Mexico and Bisbee and Ajo in Arizona). Good for those starting out
If basing a review on the 3rd or 4th editions is a disqualifier, perhaps I should recuse myself. Let me just say that I read Mr. Howells' 3rd edition when I just began looking for places, and I found it immensely helpful: worth five stars. The short, easy readings are enjoyable and make this volume a nice addition to the bedside table. The 4th edition contained a few updates. However, for the reader who has already narrowed the options, Where to Retire does not offer the detailed, substantive material one might wish for in order to refine those options.

Very pleased with information presented
I have read several retirement books dealing with various subjects about what to consider when retiring.Although I am about 1/2 way through this book, I am a little surprised and quite happy with the information so far.I liked the author's "at a glance" tax breakdown tables, and in several cases he asked questions and stated perspectives that I had not thought about before (and as I said, I have read other retirement books).Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging - Retirement    2. Case studies    3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    4. Quality of life    5. Reference - General    6. Retirement, Places of    7. Social indicators    8. Special Interest - Senior    9. Travel    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Travel / Reference