[Review of the book International handbook on ageing and public policy, by S. Harper & K. Hamblin]

Abstract

This book is about the increasingly important concept of resilience. Written by a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, it is a meticulously referenced account of resilience. The impressive blurbs on the cover of the book are both written by medical practitioners but the book has much to offer not only to clinicians but to social scientists, to policy makers and to the general public. The aim of the book is stated clearly in the Preface. It summarises what is already known about the concept as well as about existing and possible future interventions. Designed to enhance understanding, it states that it ‘brings together a wide variety of clinical issues, the latest neuroscientific discoveries and the issues most relevant for policy makers to understand in pursuing resilience-building interventions for aging adults’ (p. x).