AGING IS A FAMILY AFFAIR: A GUIDE TO QUALITY VISITING, LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES AND YOU. Thompson, Wendy. Toronto, NC Press, 1987. 164pp, paper, $12.95, ISBN 1-55021-018-1. CIP Grades 10 and up Reviewed by Nadiya Blaine Volume 16 Number 3 1988 May Wendy Thompson is an ex-high school teacher with an M.A. in Educational Gerontology; she belongs to both the Canadian Association of Gerontology and the Gerontology Association of British Columbia. She is therefore well qualified to write this book, which was conceived after the death of her own father, who had spent three years in a long-term care facility. She describes these last three years of her father's life as "a painful, frustrating and devastating" experience. Therefore, she wrote this book to help anyone who has relatives in long-term care facilities. This book contains chapters on aging, on the types and selection of nursing homes, and on the roles of the relatives of the aged. She has chapters on the "Visit" itself: how to visit, topics to discuss, how to communicate and things to do during visits. She has first-hand accounts from patients and visitors alike concerning what visits are like and how they would like them to be. She also has a chapter that gives some information on communication problems arising from visiting the hearing impaired and the visually impaired. This book is well written, easy to read and very comprehensive, and I would recommend it to anyone who has relatives in long-term care facilities. Nadiya Blaine, Ridgeway, Ont.