BOOK REVIEW

Epidemiology in Old Age. Edited by S. EBRAHIM andA. KALACHE. British Medical Journal, publishing 1996,£57.95 (for members) £60.00 (others) No of pages: 436

If you believe that Old Age Psychiatry is just an appendixof Psychiatry and that wider issues of `Health Care ofthe Elderly' are someone else's business; don't read thisbook.

If you know that old age is a burden and costs areescalating and it's all a social disease and managers andpoliticians have statistics to prove it; don't read thisbook.

It is full of interest, debunkings, information andsmiles. None of the chapters are longer than my concen-tration span (eleven pages including references), and allare written to the point by authors who are masters intheir ®elds and clearly enjoy the exercise. Their exposi-tions of the power of Epidemiology applied to obtain anunderstanding of the nature and dynamics of health and

well-being, illness and disability and death of late life,makes exhilarating, compulsive reading. The potentialfor useful, sensible interventions is described and evalu-ated with modesty and optimism and with a healthyprovision of respected references.If you need a bit more ®zz in your life;Ðread it. If

you need help in explaining to Purchasers and ¯aggingcolleagues what a joy there is to time and resources wellspent on services for older people or on the measuresdesigned to prepare people for a healthy old age; read it.If you are worried about money, happy to let othershave all the good stories, wish it was FridayÐForget it!

DAVID JOLLEY

Professor of Old Age Psychiatryand Community Health Services,

New Cross Hospital,Wolverhampton,

UK

# 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, VOL. 12: 274 (1997)