Thanks to extensive academic research (in America, where else), we now know the risks to life expectancy of a large number of activities. Knowing that the consumption of a wide variety of foodstuffs, for instance, is coupled to the inexorable ticking away of life, makes the over-zealous adherent of this thesis no very cheerful companion. But that even the loss of someone dear to you can be translated into hard figures - and moreover immediately larded with bits of advice from miscellaneous experts on how to protect oneself against the consequences - lays bare not only the vacuity of the social phenomenon of experiencing emotion under guidance, but also the increasing inability of Americans to enjoy life.