LAUSR

This book by Simon Biggs is part of Routledge’s series on ‘Key Themes in Health and Society’. As Biggs says in the foreword, rather than being primarily a descriptive textbook, it pursues an argument about contemporary thinking on adult ageing and intergenerational relations. This argument asserts that our modern-day preoccupations with work the economy and consequently labour economics are inappropriate and insufficient with which to judge the purpose and value of a long life. Biggs seeks to present an alternative material basis with which to understand the seen and unseen inherent rhythms of the human lifecourse. In doing so he explores a range of questions and tensions that exist within the study of ageing and are related to health. In doing so he explores a range of questions and tensions that exist within the study of ageing and are related to health. The book is divided into  chapters, each of which begins with bullet points of the key themes. The first chapter sets out what Biggs perceives as shaping contemporary thinking about adult ageing and raises two questions, to which he returns throughout the book: