Abstract
The Handbook of Models for Human Aging is a compilation of 83 chapters covering many aspects of modeling the aging process. The scope of the book is ambitious, spanning mathematical models, yeast, insects, fish, birds, and mammals. Its intended audience appears to be researchers in the field of aging, but most chapters are written in an accessible style, of interest to veterinary professionals and students of the biological sciences. Only a few chapters specifically address pathologic findings, and so, despite a few “gems”, such as the anatomy and ultrastructural pathology of Drosophila and age-related ocular pathology, this book should not be regarded as a work on the pathology of aging. Furthermore, photographs and figures in several chapters are pixelated or blurry, reducing the value of this work as a resource for those interested in histologic changes seen in aging organisms. Some chapters rely heavily on web-based resources, which can be ephemeral. There are a few unfortunate organizational flaws, such as the redundancy of two chapters on ethics, the omission of a large body of work on aging in Caenorhabditis elegans, and inconsistency in the placement of related chapters. A few chapters contain factual errors or lack the clarity and methodologic detail one would expect in a volume entitled a “handbook”. Some important literature in the field of reproductive aging is not cited.
On the other hand, there are many outstanding chapters in this large reference work, including but not limited to those on the general principles of aging research, species selection, systems failure, statistics, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, domestic and wild avian models, and cognitive aging in dogs. Interesting concepts, such as the biology of similar species with vastly different lifespans (e.g., annual as opposed to long-lived fish) and the notion of altruism among yeast, make for fascinating reading.