Why Grow Old?

by Orison Swett Marden

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38 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924) was an American writer associated with the New Thought Movement. He also held a degree in medicine, and was a successful hotel owner.

Marden was born in Thornton Gore, New Hampshire to Lewis and Martha Marden. When he was three years old, his mother died at the age of 22, leaving Orison and his two sisters in the care of their father, a farmer, hunter, and trapper. When Orison was seven years old, his father died from injuries incurred while in the woods, and the children were shuttled from one guardian to another, with Orison working as a "hired boy" to earn his keep. Inspired by an early self-help book by the Scottish author Samuel Smiles, which he found in an attic, Marden set out to improve himself and his life circumstances. He persevered in advancing himself and graduated from Boston University in 1871. He later graduated from Harvard with an M.D. in 1881 and an LL.B. degree in 1882. He also studied at the Boston School of Oratory and Andover Theological Seminary.

Reviews

[Jim Brown]

“The face cannot betray the years until the mind has given its consent. The mind is the sculptor," "We renew our bodies by renewing our thoughts; change our bodies, our habits, by changing our thoughts." In those phrases, the author summarizes a way of living, full of self-healing and vitality. In the end, we don’t need all the money in the world, if we lose our health and the joy of living.

This was taken from one of the opening chapters of this book. So here’s the question that I gleaned from reading Why Grow Old? If we all have a choice between two thoughts, one thought that is as ancient as history itself and that is thinking and acting like we expect “old” people to act; or we can simply think and act young; why choose the former? What have you got to lose?

Marden lays out what seems like a logical explanation of why so many people grow, act and look old and others seem to defy their age in all they say and do and look. Why do some people just look younger than other people of the same age or even younger age?

This is a short book but could be one of the most beneficial books you may ever read. It is short, quick read and given the Kindle version price of 99 cents, what have you go to lose by reading the book and giving his explanation a try?

[Dee Renee Chesnut]

7 pages of this ebook was an introduction by Tom Venuto.