Reading and Q&A with author Sherry Deren

Sherry Deren was trained as a social psychologist and spent most of her career conducting and directing

federally funded behavioral research studies related to drug use and HIV. After retiring from NYU as a

Founding Center Director and a Visiting Research Professor, she began a blog to express some of her

thoughts and experiences related to aging: humorandaging.com. She has been enjoying the many cultural

and other benefits of NYC and exploring the freedom and choices that retirement makes possible. She

lives in Manhattan with her husband, is a devoted mother and grandmother, and has a large extended

family Artwork for the cover and the sketches inside Sherry's book were created by her

granddaughter, Juliana Suárez-Lipton, a Junior in High School.

Not Done Yet: The Humor of Aging is an illuminating exploration of the

funny side of aging as experienced by author Sherry Deren, a retired

social psychologist who spent most of her career directing federally

funded behavioral research studies into HIV and drug use. Made up of a

selection of her blog posts (humorandaging.com) of the last four years,

Sherry’s anthology is a rich mixture of how a sense of humor and some

common sense can help us cope with aging and even enjoy it.

While covering many of the usual challenges and pleasures of aging,

including staying healthy, deciding what to save or throw away, and

managing changing family relationships, Not Done Yet also takes the

reader into new uncharted territory worthy of senior consideration:

hearing aids that play nice music when somebody compliments you and

automatically turn down the volume when confronted by an angry or

critical person; designer lenses that block out messy street garbage and

distort the faces of people whose advice is both unwanted and

overbearing, and dental implants that when tapped deliver refreshing

mouth wash, savory tastes and other culinary delights. “Rather than simply

look to restore the previously youthful functioning of our senses,” says the

author, “why not just use technology to enhance those senses that have

declined with age.” Why not, indeed!