The thing about life...

Here's an uplifting quote: "The thing about life is that one day you'll be dead."

Actually, it's more than a quote; it's the title of a memoir by David Shields.

Salon.com recently reviewed the book, which is more a laundry list of the maladies of aging than a first-hand account of dying and death -- although that's in there too. Here are just a few of the interesting, albeit depressing, facts about aging listed in the review:

Strength and coordination peak at 19. Arteriosclerosis can kick in at 20, which is also when joint function begins to decline. Hormone production begins to ebb at 25; bone mass tops off at 30. Smell, hearing, fingernails, hair ... going, going, gone. Every year, maximum heart rate drops a beat and height drops one-sixteenth of an inch. Skin dries; organs shrink. After 40, grip strength declines; at 65, aerobic capacity is down 30 to 40 percent; at age 90, half your kidneys' blood-filtering capacity is gone.

If you're a man, you'll have lost roughly 15 percent of your total mineral density by the time you're played out. For women, the figure is 30 percent. And the brain? Dwindling, too. The brain peaks in size at 25 and, once it passes the mid-century mark, loses 2 percent of its weight for every decade. If you're fortunate enough to reach 90, your brain will be the size of a 3-year-old's. And there's not a thing to be done about it.

Read the full Salon.com review here.

Where does this all leave me? With a favorite line from Steven King's novella turned film The Shawshank Redemption: Get busy living, or get busy dying.