The Lucky Years: How to Thrive in the Brave New World of Health

Rating

Quick rating

Agus does it again-clear, informative and important!

David Agus is both my friend, personal medical advisor and my mentor (it is interesting that at the age of 70, my mentors are all younger than I am). David is a rare combination; a great scientist, caring doctor and articulate educator. While I can totally recommend this book to anyone interested in health, I do want to say that I really dislike the title. But then again, I never like the title of his very successful book “The End of Illness.” What David means by the title, as will be made clear in the book, is that we are living in a remarkable time when the whole nature of health will be transformed. We are living in an inflection point as Andy Grove, a mentor that David and I shared, would have said. But never the less, the amount of “luck” probably has a lot to do with your economic/educational status and most importantly your age. The reader will be taken on a journey in the changes that have taken place and, most importantly, will take place, in how we think about health and how we deal with illness and disease. I think the most important message of the book is about personal empowerment. David Agus points out the many things we can do to “change our luck.” For instance, taking baby aspirin, statins and most importantly getting off our butts and moving throughout the day will have a profound consequence on health. The book not only lays out the steps we can personally take but the reasons these actions will have a positive benefit. For those like me that are interested in the science and technology of health care, there is a lot to chew on - from the role of Big Data, to exploring the biome. While Dr. Agus discusses the potential of wearable devices to inform us about the effects of our behavior, he rightly emphasizes the need to be personally in tune with how we feel and let our intuition guide us. I really appreciate that. Read more