New Goals for Old Age: Edited by George Lawton. New York: Columbia University Press, 1943. 210 pp.

This book is a collection of papers which were originally read in a course entitled Mental Health in Old Age, conducted under the auspices of the Section on the Care of the Aged of the Welfare Council of New York City in 1940–1941. The fourteen contributors, including the editor, George Lawton, represent the fields of medicine, psychiatry, social work occupational therapy and others intimately associated with the care of the aged.

All the authors agree that in this country with the increasing number of people who live to be old, there is great need of more adequate planning for them. The physical and mental handicaps of age are recognized, but the contributors all agree upon the dangers of retirement and the importance to the elderly individual of having regular occupation as long as possible. The advantages and difficulties of home and institutional care are discussed. Emphasis is placed upon the value of occupational therapy in the home as well as in the institution.

This book should be of value to anyone engaged in the care of the aged, or to the individual who finds himself forced to meet the problems of his own increasing years.