Many of the more serious public health problems of our day relate to the later years of life; and one of the most challenging issues for scholarly study is the mystery of the phenomenon of aging itself. This volume presents the efforts of 22 investigators and is primarily directed toward the understanding of the aging experience and the processes it involves. However, consonant with the premise of science that pure inquiry affords practical consequences, the public health implications of this work are obvious. Two strategies are clear in this study: first, the selection of the healthy, community-dwelling aged so that we may look anew at the prevailing ideas and research findings concerning the aged and aging which heretofore have stemmed primarily from studies of the sick and institutionalized; second, the introduction of the collaborative, multidisciplinary approach so that there can be a more complete and accurate evaluation of the many factors known, or believed, to determine the overt manifestations of aging. As important as the substantive findings, are the methods used in the research investigations. Despite the public health significance of the problems affecting the aged, ranging from sensory handicaps, to housing, to mental and physical illness, there has been a relative neglect of the study, care, and treatment of the aged. Basic inquiry into the final stages of life, therefore, is a welcome contribution to our public health effort in this country. It is opportune in many ways that this volume appears now at a time of increased national concern for the welfare of our older citizens and for the study and improvement of their health and welfare. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).