Review

Clear pages on key ages

Birth to old age: health in transition
Basiro Davey (ed)
Second edition
Open University Press, 1995, £12.99

This book is the fifth in a series of eight books on the subject of health and disease.

It was first published in 1985 but this second edition has been completely revised and in its text, and especially in its illustrations, presents itself as a book addressing current health issues in the UK.

Although written for Open University students, the reading material stands alone and can be usefully read by students on courses of similar disciplines such as human biology, psychology and public health. The book’s one slight drawback is that it is occasionally cross-referenced with other source material published in a separate course reader.

The book identifies and focuses on major health issues in a person’s biological, psychological and physiological development.

Because individual chapters, which focus on different age groups, have been written by a number of authors with differing expertise and interests, the health issues at each stage of life are addressed from a range of perspectives and not all perspectives are necessarily covered in each chapter.

If the book had attempted to present each stage of life from all developmental aspects it would either have been sketchy or considerably longer and unlikely to have been read by anyone.

The definition of ‘health’ and life in the 1990s in terms of family structure, employment and healthcare, are covered in the first two chapters. The final chapter discusses collecting information to examine these life courses and to predict future health patterns.

The key life stages: pregnancy and childbirth; child health and development; adolescent development; mid-life crisis; later life; and dying, are each addressed in a separate chapter.

Two chapters cover general issues which arise from adolescence onwards, sexuality, fertility, work and stress, and there are two specialist chapters focusing on children, and accidents and disability.

As with all the other OU books in this series I have used, this one is clear, concise, well-presented, and a pleasure to read.