As the recent article in this journal by Alan Walker (Reference Walker2017) shows, population ageing is a major social policy issue and one that requires new political and policy approaches. However, the social and demographic change brought about by the current phase of population ageing also calls for new ways of thinking about ageing and later life. Sadly, as a global study by the WHO has shown, ageist ideas and stereotypes persist across many parts of the globe (Officer et al., Reference Officer, Schneiders, Wu, Nash, Thiyagarajan and Beard2016). Hence there is still work to be done. In this context, the aim of the New Age of Ageing to develop new ways of thinking about ageing and later life is welcome. However, the issues raised by population ageing are complex and require a complex approach in response. Unfortunately I felt that this was often lacking in this book.

To begin with I want to be clear that I do not want to be overly negative about this book. It is clear that the authors come with the laudable aim of addressing some of the problems they see in the debates and discussions about ageing and later life. Throughout the book they make a strong case that many of the frames that are used to understand ageing, ranging from the personal to policy makers, rely on outdated notions of later life and what it entails: namely dependency, decline and decrepitude. In contrast the authors seek to challenge these ideas and call for new modes of thinking for a new age of ageing. To do this the authors draw on a number of reports and some peer reviewed articles to challenge the often taken for granted assumptions or popular media stories. For example, their unpacking of the old age dependency ratio is particularly valuable insofar as it explodes the myth of the demographic time-bomb by highlighting the flawed assumptions behind the model. Elsewhere, they draw on an important BMJ study to unpick some of the negative assumptions about the coming crisis of health care with ageing populations. They combine the findings from studies such as these with more anecdotal evidence that gives some of their examples a more human touch. For me this is a clear indication that the book is primarily aimed at a general, non-academic audience. As such it works well. It is written in an accessible and engaging manner by authors who are passionate about their aims.

However, from an academic, gerontological perspective it is quite clear that many of the issues that have been discussed in the academic literature have been unfortunately overlooked. For example, the authors identify what they consider to be the four layers of society to assess how ageing is and should be represented. These are: i) the individual; ii) the family; iii) the community/neighbourhood; and, iv) society as a whole. Whilst these represent many of the areas in which population ageing is likely to have an impact, the reader is struck by the absence of the workplace or the organisation in this list. Given the tremendous amount of policy discourse and political protests around the extending of working lives and the changing nature of retirement, this is a major oversight.

Another major issue is that the book takes a very UK/European centric view of ageing. Despite the fact that the authors acknowledge that ageing is a global phenomenon they focus only on the UK. This is a major limitation as the reader is not able to see the rapid changes to ageing and later life in other parts of the world. Indeed one could argue that it is these areas where the need is greatest for new models and ways of thinking about ageing in those countries which, to quote Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the UN, are becoming old before they become rich.

The book also lacks sufficient methodological rigour. The authors draw on interviews with over 50 people aged 50+, including a number of ‘specialist’ interviews. However it is not clear how the sample was recruited except that the authors note that the people that they spoke to were on the whole educated, e.g. had a University degree or professional qualification. Again this limits the generalizability of the book. It is possible that if the authors had chosen different people then different themes would have emerged or perhaps the respondents would have reflected differently on the themes that were covered.

In a number of chapters the evidence base that the authors draw upon is quite narrow and dated. For example in the chapter on demographics the authors do not properly engage with the literature on social inequalities in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy that has been published over the last few years. That which is covered is rather brief and tends to focus on regional differences within the UK. This is not to deny the importance of regional differences. But there is a danger that, by relying on these broad regional classifications, the authors mask the complex ways in which individual and ecological dis/advantages interact. In short more could have been done here. Again the absence of a properly international focus in this chapter is quite surprising given the variations in population ageing around the world. This is something that warranted more attention given the authors aim of conceptualising a new age of ageing. International data would show that this new age of ageing is increasingly heterogeneous and iniquitous. By broadening their scope beyond the UK the authors would have been able to show that there are different ways of ‘doing ageing’ in different countries around the world.

Overall, I felt that the book failed to consider the complexity of ageing and later life. The authors either overlook or ignore many of the stories of successful ageing and the fact that certain groups are flourishing in later life. This is not to deny that there are groups for whom ageing is problematic nor that ageist assumptions persist. However, there is growing evidence of increasingly inequalities in later life. The book really needed to look more critically at the range of ageing experiences and ask why certain groups find it difficult and others do not. Ironically, by failing to consider the inequalities in later life the authors end up repeating or reinforcing some of the negative images of ageing, by not giving due consideration to those examples where these are not the case.

In short, I applaud the goals of the book and I hope that it is successful in raising awareness of these issues amongst a general audience. However, I personally would not recommend it to my students.