Book excerpt: The author of Prepare to Defend Yourself… How to Navigate the Healthcare System and Escape with Your Life is back. This time Matthew Minson, MD, turns a penetrating and whimsical eye on the medical and social aspects of aging in Prepare to Defend Yourself…How to Age Gracefully and Escape with Your Dignity. While seeming to simultaneously channel a combination of Benjamin Franklin and Charles Schulz, Dr. Minson goes after bodily changes, behaviors—good and bad, and what everyone can do to make life more bearable and—dare we say it—fun after fifty. Laced with his unique style of poignancy and humor and peppered with his own surrealistically funny cartoons, the book bravely takes on health, finances, sex, diet, exercise, death, the law, and what you can do to protect what matters most as you age. It’s life, liberty, and the pursuit of a chuckle in this groundbreaking book that just might make you look forward to your golden years. For anyone of any age who plans on aging with their dignity intact, this is the book for you.