Last Laughs: A Pocketful of Wry for the Aging is the perfect antidote to feeling out of place in our youth-oriented culture. Author Everett Mattlin puts it all in true--and entertaining--perspective.

With humor, wit, and refreshing honesty, author Everett Mattlin offers his reflections on the realities of aging. In a country ''where old age is an embarrassment'' and the elderly are exhorted to energize their ''power years,'' he insists there ''was and is nothing wrong--in fact, there is everything right and proper--about old-style old age: the rocking chair, afternoon naps, sweet reminiscences over photo albums ?'' Or doing nothing. ''Sloth is no longer a sin,'' he asserts. ''It's a gift bestowed on survivors.''

Readers will chuckle over the familiar, as he lightheartedly surveys such topics as oldster grumpiness, the travails of travel, pesky hearing aids, hateful diets and exercise, endless doctor appointments, the ''X-plicitness'' of today's movies, and the advantages of sleeping in a separate bedroom from one's spouse.

Mattlin is the author or co-author of a dozen non-fiction books, including Wiped Out, The Phrase-Dropper's Handbook, A Zebra in Lion Country and Sleep Less, Live More.

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