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Roland Smith presents the very opposite of 'dumbing down' of his subject matter. The subject matter is weighty and it's certainly not a light read, but although he uses contemporary illustrations, he does not seek to simplify these matters, but rather succeeds in clarifying the argument with them and educating the reader. Not once did I feel lost by his train of argument and at each stage of life on which he writes, I found myself thinking about them in a slightly different way.
Any book-lover will take great reassurance in his argument that reading novels enables the reader to feel 'relatively younger - that is, they win back more time' as an antidote to agingageing. Equally, he also provides a philosophical argument in support of cheating in exams! His justification for his claims on novels is that by saying 'I'd never seen it like that before, [it] feels like redeeming part of your life'. I can honestly say that the book make me think of events afresh, so not only will this book entertain you, educate you and amuse you, it may very well help you stay younger, longer. Now if that's not a compelling reason to read this book, I don't know what is.
Many thanks to Profile Books for inviting the ever-youthful Bookbag to review this interesting book.