According to the authors of Fast Living, Slow Ageing: How to Age Less, Look Great, Live Longer, Get More, “Ageing is and should be positive.” Yet, to age in this fashion “requires significant planning and investment.” This does not mean visiting a plastic surgeon or taking a pill. There is no “quick fix” to what is a complex process. The authors, Kate Marie and Christopher Thomas (MD, PhD), make sure you realize the overall complexity of the ageing process. Their intent is not to mislead you into thinking you will be miraculously forever young. They do not intend for you to believe they have all the answers. Instead, the authors plan to help you understand what ageing is and how to adopt a logical and practical approach to slow it down.

This is not a book featuring “beauty tips.” There are no faddish solutions to help you reduce, stall or halt ageing. This book focuses on recognizing exactly what ageing is and how to “move forward, but with more control over the pace.” While some things cannot be fixed or replaced, you can avoid certain issues associated with old age. The approach, the authors suggests you adopt is called SLOW ageing.

Slow Ageing is defined as a process in which you adopt the following: Strategic, Long-Term, Organized and Wilful. It is a method in which the approach needs to always consider 7 specific steps in examining all issues:

1. Awareness and engagement in the ageing process.
2. Strategic planning and targeting of appropriate Goals.
3. Accent the positive, Eliminate the negative.
4. Making choices that are sustainable in the Long-term.
5. Don’t be Exclusive. Complex problems require complex solutions.
6. Support is out there, so get help.
7. Be Selective. Like Goldilocks, do what’s right for you

In order to adopt the SLOW approach, the book ensures, first, you have sufficient information on the various health issues affected by ageing. It initially provides you with the information on what ageing is before explaining the SLOW method and the best way to succeed in adopting it. The next chapters, and all but the final section, relate to the different aspects of ageing. They discuss how they affect your life and, how to slow them down.

An important and even integral part of the authors’ approach is the need to provide not only information but also to allow people to have options. In each section, no matter whether it is on the importance of certain dietary supplements or on heart disease or sex, the authors include options. They provide charts and suggestions on such things as “Options for optimal protein intake,” “Options to boost DHEA levels,” “Options to keep your brain active” and “Options to support healthy eyes.”

With accurate information and options to optimize the individual’s chances to age SLOWLY, this book is a positive addition to the boomer’s library. It reads easily. The titles are catchy. It is a book that offers a realistic approach with the achievable goal of slowing down the ageing process so you can live life as it should be.