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Losing It: In which an Aging Professor laments his shrinking Brain?.
In Losing It, William Ian Miller brings his inimitable wit and learning to the subject of growing old: too old to matter, of either rightly losing your confidence or wrongly maintaining it, culpably refusing to face the fact that you are losing it. The “it” in Miller’s “losing it” refers mainly to mental faculties—memory, processing speed, sensory acuity, the capacity to focus. But it includes other evidence as well—sags and flaccidities, aches and pains, failing joints and organs. What are we to make of these tell-tale signs? Does growing old gracefully mean more than simply refusing unseemly cosmetic surgeries? How do we face decline and the final drawing of the blinds? Will we know if and when we have lingered too long?
Drawing on a lifetime of deep study and anxious observation, Miller enlists the wisdom of the ancients to confront these vexed questions head on. Debunking the glossy new image of old age that has accompanied the graying of the Baby Boomers, he conjures a lost world of aging rituals—complaints, taking to bed, resentments of one’s heirs, schemes for taking it with you or settling up accounts and scores—to remind us of the ongoing dilemmas of old age. Darkly intelligent and sublimely written, this exhilarating and eccentric book will raise the spirits of readers, young and old.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 19, 2017
Where to begin? The subtitle of this book written by a University of Michigan Law professor, mid 60s, in good health with a mom in her late 80s swimming half a mile day is: "in which an aging professor laments his shrinking brain, which he flatters himself formerly did him noble service--a plaint, tragi-comical, historical, vengeful, sometimes satirical and thankful in six parts, if his Memory does yet serve." Huh? Yale University Press let him get away with that long, wordy and inaccurate title? Here are a few problems with the book: 1) Miller wants to make aging seem horrible by associating it with "rot, meanness, avarice, cowardice, peevishness, irascibility, moroseness, whining. . .reeking breath, loss of libido" and much more! Again, this is a man himself teaching law into his senior years with a healthy swimming 80+ year old mother. Why so negative? We already live in an incredibly ageist society that knocks people down and discredits them based mostly on reaching a certain chronological age. Why add fuel to that fire and be downright nasty in the book towards age scholars who have noted positive aspects of aging? 2) The book is called "Losing It" since Miller is obsessed with the fact that brains shrink over time and he is not as sharp as he once was. But, then, he spends over 250 pages pulling out biblical stories, Icelandic sagas, poetry from Eliot and Yeats to show readers that he is not really "losing it," but actually still very knowledgeable. Confusing. 3) Maybe Miller was going for humor as that long subtitle suggests, but nothing in this tedious book was even remotely funny. 4) Finally, the advice in the book could not be worse. He offers the overly cliched, "act your age" or suffer the absence of "dignity." Maybe he should have told that to Louise Bourgeois who did art work up to her death at 98--work that is now showing at MOMA--so she would realize 98 year-olds should not still be working. Yeah, right. Give me a break!
April 21, 2023
It took me a long time to read this. Not because I didn’t like it (I did), but because the kerning and line spacing seemed very tight. Cruel for the book editor to do that on a book about aging. It was a bit of a chore to read. Literally. Ahhhh…aging eyes.
Miller’s style is a pleasant one — a blend of academic and creative prose, which makes for a personal narrative with hints of ancient texts, and a whiff of wry humor.
It is a book that I can’t say everyone would enjoy, but for those of us who are over 50, well-read, enjoy good storytelling, and aren’t afraid of the ultimate decline of time, it really is good.
Miller’s style is a pleasant one — a blend of academic and creative prose, which makes for a personal narrative with hints of ancient texts, and a whiff of wry humor.
It is a book that I can’t say everyone would enjoy, but for those of us who are over 50, well-read, enjoy good storytelling, and aren’t afraid of the ultimate decline of time, it really is good.
December 23, 2020
In fairness, the book is exactly as the title suggests - the (whiny) lament of a professor unimpressed with the aging process. Given the title of the book, its subject matter, and the fact that Miller is a long-serving law professor who has taught Icelandic sagas (yes, really), I expected it to be verbose. Even so, nothing could have prepared me for Miller's ramblings. I paid good money for this book so I was determined to see it through...until I remembered the old "time is money" bit and decided my time was worth more than I had paid for the book.
August 11, 2019
An intriguing book that I ended up putting aside quite often! I loved his interpretations of biblical stories and Viking sagas.
July 14, 2015
William Miller, a university professor of property law and now in his mid-sixties, is taking a long, hard look at old age as he approaches his declining years. His observations and fears are similar to our own, and like many of us, his greatest fear is of “losing it”. By that he means losing his mental faculties--memory, the ability to process information, sensory acuity and the capacity to focus. As the numbers of older people in our population increase, especially now with the large influx of baby boomers, this subject is quickly becoming a topic of discussion as well as one of quiet anxiety.
As Miller describes his personal experiences of a body that both physical and mentally does not perform as it used to, he expresses the quiet concern that he knows things will get even worse. He questions the current belief that the elder years are the best years, a time of quiet contemplation of a life well lived. He uses the learned approach of the academic but includes small pockets of comic relief at the same time. One cannot help but chuckle while he confronts the reader with subjects such as “brain rot”, a topic he explores in a section titled “shrink wrap”.
Many of his observations are similar to the experience of anyone over the age of fifty. He speaks of his unnerving distractibility, losing his train of thought while speaking or just plain blanking out. And just when one feels so burdened by all this bad news, he lifts the narrative with his humour. You cannot help but chuckle when you come upon section titles such as, “Proverbial Bores and Curmudgeons” or “Of Whine, Oyes, Moans and Groans”.
Miller also poses some interesting questions, such as whether older people have a better sense of well being because they have lost the critical means to accurately evaluate a situation; or whether they have fonder memories because they can only recall the gist of events and not the details of the past. And he warns us to think about our property and its proper disbursement before we find ourselves not “with it enough” to know what to do with it.
He criticizes those who try to prolong youth with facelifts, Viagra, implants, and cyber technology as simply swindlers and con artists who are making money by promising an eternal, healthy and sensuous life.
This is a book written by a scholar but meant for the general public as well. There are some rather long and sometimes dry references to great literature, medieval history, the Bible and the Talmud that at times get somewhat ponderous. They are all supplemented by detailed notes and a lengthy bibliography.
Miller offers an historic, scientific and literary perspective on the effects of old age and the dilemma of aging. It is a well written and interesting, but is definitely not a quick read. It requires time and attention. But it certainly offers interesting information, poses excellent questions and occasionally entertains.
As Miller describes his personal experiences of a body that both physical and mentally does not perform as it used to, he expresses the quiet concern that he knows things will get even worse. He questions the current belief that the elder years are the best years, a time of quiet contemplation of a life well lived. He uses the learned approach of the academic but includes small pockets of comic relief at the same time. One cannot help but chuckle while he confronts the reader with subjects such as “brain rot”, a topic he explores in a section titled “shrink wrap”.
Many of his observations are similar to the experience of anyone over the age of fifty. He speaks of his unnerving distractibility, losing his train of thought while speaking or just plain blanking out. And just when one feels so burdened by all this bad news, he lifts the narrative with his humour. You cannot help but chuckle when you come upon section titles such as, “Proverbial Bores and Curmudgeons” or “Of Whine, Oyes, Moans and Groans”.
Miller also poses some interesting questions, such as whether older people have a better sense of well being because they have lost the critical means to accurately evaluate a situation; or whether they have fonder memories because they can only recall the gist of events and not the details of the past. And he warns us to think about our property and its proper disbursement before we find ourselves not “with it enough” to know what to do with it.
He criticizes those who try to prolong youth with facelifts, Viagra, implants, and cyber technology as simply swindlers and con artists who are making money by promising an eternal, healthy and sensuous life.
This is a book written by a scholar but meant for the general public as well. There are some rather long and sometimes dry references to great literature, medieval history, the Bible and the Talmud that at times get somewhat ponderous. They are all supplemented by detailed notes and a lengthy bibliography.
Miller offers an historic, scientific and literary perspective on the effects of old age and the dilemma of aging. It is a well written and interesting, but is definitely not a quick read. It requires time and attention. But it certainly offers interesting information, poses excellent questions and occasionally entertains.
August 24, 2018
The “it” in the book title “Losing It” by William Ian Miller, published in 2011, refers to mental faculties and how humans more and more lose them as they get older. Miller – who is a law professor at the University of Michigan – was in his mid-60s when he wrote this book about the physical/mental aspects of aging, drawing from the wisdom of the ancient Greek and Romans, literature from medieval Europe to the early 21st century, and scientific research. The book has 16 pages of bibliography and 30 pages of notes, plus an index.
Miller treats the subject of aging with clear eyes, looking at the good aspects and the bad (yes, there are good aspects). But he has little patience with blind optimism in the face of aging, and he ruthlessly examines Americans’ often denial-infused attitudes toward getting old and dying.
“I will not be able to repress all my irritation with and contempt for so-called positive psychology and the related field of positive emotions, with their fatuous takes on the old age, wisdom, happiness, and well-being – not to mince words, these fields are either culpably moronic or a swindle, one in which its purveyors, it seems, believe their own con.”
Miller thinks we should admit that we are old when we are old. He quotes a survey which said that more than half the people between 60 and 74 thought of themselves of “middle aged” or “young.” When the average life expectancy of Americans and most Europeans is 70 or so, the idea of people at age 60 to 70 thinking of themselves as middle aged is nonsensical.
Although there is plenty of pessimism in Miller’s book (after all, old age does inevitably lead to death), it is nevertheless full of humorous tidbits such as, “Aging tends to modulate if not quite kill optimism and that surely counts as wising up, optimism being mostly for youth and fools and the old people positive psychologists dig up.” Or “The real curse of the camaraderie of old age is that one’s health is usually the main topic.”
With ample humor and erudition, Miller takes us through aspects of aging: memory, retirement, regret, human history, both general and personal, and complaining (including a few paragraphs on “oy vey,” which he describes thus: “Oy vey, then, is a neat double complaint, coupling Hebrew and Germanic in a double blast of woeful interjection.”).
For someone old or soon-to-be-old, this book is provides insight into old age and, more importantly, life in general.
Miller treats the subject of aging with clear eyes, looking at the good aspects and the bad (yes, there are good aspects). But he has little patience with blind optimism in the face of aging, and he ruthlessly examines Americans’ often denial-infused attitudes toward getting old and dying.
“I will not be able to repress all my irritation with and contempt for so-called positive psychology and the related field of positive emotions, with their fatuous takes on the old age, wisdom, happiness, and well-being – not to mince words, these fields are either culpably moronic or a swindle, one in which its purveyors, it seems, believe their own con.”
Miller thinks we should admit that we are old when we are old. He quotes a survey which said that more than half the people between 60 and 74 thought of themselves of “middle aged” or “young.” When the average life expectancy of Americans and most Europeans is 70 or so, the idea of people at age 60 to 70 thinking of themselves as middle aged is nonsensical.
Although there is plenty of pessimism in Miller’s book (after all, old age does inevitably lead to death), it is nevertheless full of humorous tidbits such as, “Aging tends to modulate if not quite kill optimism and that surely counts as wising up, optimism being mostly for youth and fools and the old people positive psychologists dig up.” Or “The real curse of the camaraderie of old age is that one’s health is usually the main topic.”
With ample humor and erudition, Miller takes us through aspects of aging: memory, retirement, regret, human history, both general and personal, and complaining (including a few paragraphs on “oy vey,” which he describes thus: “Oy vey, then, is a neat double complaint, coupling Hebrew and Germanic in a double blast of woeful interjection.”).
For someone old or soon-to-be-old, this book is provides insight into old age and, more importantly, life in general.
January 25, 2022
An enjoyable book about losing what matters to so many of us.
March 17, 2013
This is a good overview of how literature, myth, folklore has represented old age. The cover lets us know what we are in for: "A Plaint, tragi-comica, historical, vengeful, sometimes satirical and thankful".
It is a highly articulate and intelligent "plaint". It's not exactly scholarly, it's not exactly folklore, it's not exactly a memoir, it's not exactly an opinion piece...it's an olla podtida; a rich ragout spiced with the bitters of senescence. Most of all, it is realistic.
Chapter headings tell much: "The Horror" "Wisdome," "Complaining", "Retirement, Revenge, and Taking It With You," "Sentiments" and "Redeption from the Pasture".
As for myself, I am learning to live in the pasture and cannot find much redemption therein but there are nibbles of mirth and merriment as I detach from the foibles of youth and ambition.
I am glad that there are more and more books that focus on the funeral plot rather than the marriage plot.
It is a highly articulate and intelligent "plaint". It's not exactly scholarly, it's not exactly folklore, it's not exactly a memoir, it's not exactly an opinion piece...it's an olla podtida; a rich ragout spiced with the bitters of senescence. Most of all, it is realistic.
Chapter headings tell much: "The Horror" "Wisdome," "Complaining", "Retirement, Revenge, and Taking It With You," "Sentiments" and "Redeption from the Pasture".
As for myself, I am learning to live in the pasture and cannot find much redemption therein but there are nibbles of mirth and merriment as I detach from the foibles of youth and ambition.
I am glad that there are more and more books that focus on the funeral plot rather than the marriage plot.
January 13, 2012
Hilarious, self-indulgent, thought provoking
February 3, 2012
At times, very dense on the religious and historical references, but in totality, an exquisite book on the experience of aging
February 2, 2013
Just started reading it but a book about aging that hits the nail on the head, philosophical and very funny and thought provoking. He's been in my closet spying on me.
February 23, 2014
200pgs+ of sustained, relentless complaining.
I can just picture listening to this author in person, whining - whining - and more whining.
Read
March 22, 2018It's more scholarly than I expected. I'm not sure when/if I will pick it up again.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews