Select one of the books from this list and prepare a 1000-1500 word review. Some of these are popular works that available at many local libraries or inexpensive paperback editions. Some are scholarly and harder to obtain, but could be ordered through an online bookstore or found at a college library. I discussed several of these works during the course. Books marked with an * are listed as Recommended resources in Issues in Aging. If you find a similar book and would like to review it, just ask via Course Messages and we can discuss whether it would be an appropriate choice.
Your review should include:
A brief summary of the book and your general evaluation of it. This should be no more than 25 percent of your review.
A more extensive discussion of how the book relates to some specific ideas that we read about and discussed in the course.
Specific citations to course material. You might want to focus on methodology, historical context, political or philosophical issues, the life course perspective, ideas about successful aging or whatever seems most relevant to you given the nature of the book that you choose. This component of your review is the most important.
For more information about these books, check out Amazon or Barnes and Noble, which should have reviews of most of them posted. You can see a sample review below the listed books. However, you should not be influenced by published reviews when you write your review. The only reason you should look at one is to see whether you want to read the book.
The book I choose out of the list
Aging and Addiction: Helping Older Adults Overcome Alcoholism or Medication Dependence by Carol Colleran, and Debra Jay. Hazleden Press. 2008 ( Hazelden is the press associated with Alcoholics Anonymous and this book addresses the problem of substance abuse in older adults from the point of view of that organization whch is not always research based or objective. )