The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age

In this ill-considered program, McGarey (Living Medicine), a centenarian practitioner of holistic medicine, dispenses advice on how to lead a fulfilling life. She enumerates six tenets for staying healthy and finding happiness, which include “you are here for a reason,” “love is the most powerful medicine,” and “you are never truly alone.” Patient case studies illustrate each principle—the story of an elderly woman whose intestinal problems were allegedly a by-product of her inability to “digest” her grief over the deaths of her loved ones is presented as proof that “all life needs to move,” but McGarey provides no scientific evidence to support this contention. Additionally, the author’s emphasis on treating ailments with a “simple shift in perspective” condescends toward those struggling with physiological conditions (she claims to have resolved chronic fatigue syndrome in an elderly man by urging him to take more joy in life). The “six secrets to health and happiness” might make for a balanced outlook on life, but the claim that they’re suitable for treating medical symptoms is irresponsible, and the frequent discussions of such meaningless terms as “life force” and “life energy” only add to the muddle, as when McGarey reports having “sensed a stagnant energy” around a lupus patient. There’s not much to recommend this. (May)