Similar Text Discovered

Several passages in “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind,” a best-selling book by Dr. Deepak Chopra, the New Age advice sensation, are very close in form and content to passages in a book by another author, and Chopra’s publisher has announced it will revise part of one chapter of “Ageless Body.”

Chopra’s book, which is about living longer, was published in 1993. The earlier book, “The Methuselah Factors,” by Dan Georgakas, which also offers advice on how to live longer, was published in 1981.

The similar passages discuss people in the Caucasus Mountains. Georgakas complained that about a third of the material in a nine-page section of “Ageless Body” came from his book, either directly or indirectly.

A report of the unattributed passages appeared in The Washington Post on Friday.

In one example, Georgakas wrote in “Methuselah”:

“Spotting an infant among his guests, Vanacha insisted that a cow be milked so that the baby could have some wholesome country refreshment.”

Dr. Chopra wrote in “Ageless Body”:

Vanacha “spotted a baby among the visitors and, smiling with delight, insisted that a cow be milked to provide refreshment.”

In a statement Friday, Harmony Books, a division of Crown Publishers, said attribution for the passages had been inadvertently omitted.

“Certain clarifications are being made by the publisher in the next printing to correct these inadvertent omissions,” the statement said. “The changes made total no more than 350 words.”