First a confession: before I read it in public I took the dust cover off Midlife Man: A Not-So-Threatening Guide to Health and Sex for Man at His Peak by Art Hister, MD.The illustration is a send-up of Michelangelo’s David, only the naked male is quite clearly not a boy, but someone of a certain age, as they say. The picture gave me the uncomfortable feeling that people were going to wonder: Has she got a thing about middle-aged men?

It would be a shame, though, if the cover kept either men or women from buying this book since it is the most sensible and amusing guide to adult health that I’ve read since the original Our Bodies, Our Selves. Hister’ s wisecracks don’t get in the way of his clear explanations of aging (not such a bad thing, really, he says) and his up-to-date advice on making the most of middle age (which he says, with much conviction, is a great time of life). The notes on each chapter are from an impressive list of recent articles from publications like the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British journal The Lancet. Among other things, Hister explains what Viagra does and why the prostate can be literally such a pain in the butt.

But what he’s best at is showing how men “can decrease the inevitable toll that time exacts by adopting some good habits,” which he calls the “usual suspects” – don’t smoke, use only minimal to moderate amounts of alcohol, follow a healthy diet, get lots of sleep, minimize your stress load, and get lots of exercise.

If you don’t, Hister tells men, “let me offer my condolences to your partner, mostly because he or she is the one who will have to watch you get undressed every night.”

Which brings us back to the picture on the dust jacket. As it happens, I do have a thing about one middle-aged man. This is a book I’ll keep, and bring out when my partner, who passed the half-century mark a few years back, has health questions. I can’t imagine him buying it for himself, or reading it before a particular problem confronts him, but I think we’ll both be better off with it to consult. Many other women, if they can get past the dust jacket, would agree. As for the guys, they should find Hister’s humour just what’s needed to take the edge off some pretty serious stuff.