Middle Age is offered as a rumination on the mezzo del cammin di nostra vita in all its guises: the autumnal ripeness of the self, the onset of physical decay, the failure to achieve what you dreamed of, the sense of having become a character you never chose to become [but] inside these calm lucubrations, a quite different book is ... Read morebursting out, like the lupine snouts bursting through of the faces of the periwigged nobles in The Company of Wolves. Actually Mr Hamilton tells you on page one about the terrible thing that happened to him, that blew apart his family and derailed his life and skewed his personality and probably scuppered his marriage, six years ago. But it's only when you read on that you discover, in between the calmly objective discussions about Nostalgia or Success, how intense is his long howl of rage and dismay that human beings can treat their supposed nearest and dearest like this. You realise you're holding in your hand a new genre - the philosophical misery memoir. - The Independent There is much to provoke the reader's reflections, and a good deal of it is liable to make one feel uncomfortable ... there is an admirable depth of self-exploration here, a relentless striving for honesty, and the eloquent expression of a sensibility that recognizes not only the crud and filth of human existence, but also its joys and delights. - International Journal of Philosophical Studies A rich and intricate web of personal experience and philosophical reflection, which shows how middle age grittily reveals what has been there all along: the compromised nature of life. - Eisteach: Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Show Less