Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics

This volume is planned as the first in a series of annual reviews designed "to encompass the broad spectrum of concerns in aging, from empirical and theoretical literature to clinical studies and services for the elderly" and is expected to "become a dependable source of scholarly information." This reviewer found the published effort to fall short of these high aims, unless they can be realized in the extensive references found at the end of each chapter. One cannot escape the thought that too many authors have chosen to write as if they were only addressing their own discipline and using the jargon of that discipline. There are several well-written chapters using words and phrases that communicate across many disciplines, because the words used are common ones, or have meanings congruent with those that can be found in a good college dictionary, or in a medical dictionary. In fact, the chapter