Abstract:

As the American population ages, the demand for information about the aging process, elder care, and related topics increases. Encyclopedia of Gerontology: Age, Aging, and the Aged is a comprehensive source that offers a multidisciplinary overview of all aspects of aging. Birren, the editor in chief, is associate director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles. He assembled an international group of 150 scholars to write the 139 signed articles that appear in the two volumes. The articles are arranged alphabetically. They cover a wide range of subjects within biology (cell death, evolution and comparative biology), psychology (learning, perception), social issues (abuse and neglect of elders, economics: personal), health sciences (pharmacology, geriatric assessment: physical), and the humanities (folklore, humor). There are articles on specific conditions, such as arthritis and prostate problems, that are prevalent among the elderly. Home care, pensions, images of aging, ethics, dementia, and euthanasia are among the issues of contemporary interest addressed in this work. Each article begins with an outline of major topics included and a glossary of terms used and ends with a brief bibliography of current scholarly sources. The articles are 10 to 15 pages in length. They offer extensive analysis; for example, four theories of elder abuse and a detailed assessment of the changes in body composition during aging. Line drawings, charts, and tables supplement the text. Ample cross-references lead to related material. A detailed table of contents and a subject index make it easy to find specific topics. With its lengthy articles covering everything from the biomechanics of falls to the portrayal of Grandpa Simpson on television, Encyclopedia of Gerontology provides greater depth than The Encyclopedia of Aging and the Elderly (Facts On File, 1992) and The Graying of America: An Encyclopedia of Aging, Health, Mind and Behavior (Univ. of Illinois, 1996), but some of its articles are less accessible to the lay reader than the ones contained in those works. It has a broader scope than Merck Manual of Geriatrics (2d ed., Merck, 1995). It is an excellent source for health sciences and social sciences collections in academic and large public libraries.