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A compilation of some of the best books around on aging: Inspirational, Health, and What it is like to be Old.


Inspirational (Wall Street Journal)
  • Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Cartoonist Roz Chast’s chronicle of caring for her 90-odd-year-old parents.
  • The Late Starters Orchestra. Author and journalist Ari Goldman’s quest to master the cello.
  • Lighter as We Go: Virtues, Character Strengths, and Aging. After the stressful sandwich years, authors Mindy Greenstein and Jimmie Holland help us appreciate what we have, and give us a sense of purpose for what we still want to do.
  • Life Is a Wheel: Love, Death, Etc., and a Bike Ride across America. 57 year-old journalist Bruce Weber writes about his second bike trip across the U.S.
  • How to Be Old: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Retirement. Richard Gerberding, a retired classics professor, adapts Cicero’s idea that “the best weapons against old age are your inner qualities and virtues which you have cultivated at every stage of your life.”
  • What Makes Olga Run: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives. 94-year-old Olga Kotelko explains how she does it. 

Healthy Aging (The Senior List)
  • Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being. Dr. Andrew Weil combines traditional and non-traditional medical advice to help us age in good health.
  • Aging Wisely: Strategies for Baby Boomers and Seniors. Retired clinical professor and neurologist Dr. Robert Levine’s book helps the reader take control of their life as they age.
  • A Man's Guide to Healthy Aging: Stay Smart, Strong, and Active. Authors Edward Thompson Jr. and Lenard Kaye provide a man’s perspective on healthy aging.
  • The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully. 70-year-old Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister’s book features about 40 essays on subjects like adjustment, sadness, regret and success, and advice on connecting with yourself and with others.
  • The Wonder of Aging: A New Approach to Embracing Life after Fifty. New York Times best-selling author Michael Gurian profiles three states of aging: Transformation (from our late forties to around sixty), Distinction (from sixty to seventy-five), and Completion (the final stage of our journey). 
 



What it is Like To be Old (Time Goes By)
  • The Art of Aging, a Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being. Sherwin B. Nuland’s compassionate book about how we grow old.
  • Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Dr. Atul Gawande’s best-selling book about bringing dignity to the last years of one’s life.
  • The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life. Dr. Gene D. Cohen book unknots many of the negative beliefs about getting old.
  • The Force of Character and the Lasting Life. Published in 1999, 85-year-old Jungian psychologist James Hillman explains how the last years can be used to conform and fulfill character.
  • The Fountain of Age. Published in 1993, women-rights advocate Betty Friedan takes an exhaustive look at aging.
  • From Ageing to Sageing. Published in 1997, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s book proposes a new model of late-life development that enables older people to become spiritually radiant, physically vital, and socially responsible.
  • Old Age. Published in 1970, Simone de Beauvoir writes about the experience of the everyday lives of elders.
  • Old Age. Journey Into Simplicity. Helen M. Luke, reflects on old age through the writings of Homer, Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot and others.
  • Why Survive? Being Old in America. Dr. Robert N. Butler’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize winning book on aging.

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  • Home
    • Caring for Elderly Parent
    • Eating & Exercise
    • Emerging Technology & Concepts >
      • End of Life Options/Issues/Grieving >
        • VSED Primer
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Health Challenges
    • History of Aging >
      • Ancient Egypt, India, China
      • Before 1500
      • 1500s & 1600s
      • 1700s & 1800s
      • 1900s & 2000s
      • Early New England (1600s)
      • Quest To Look Young
      • Books
    • Housing Options & Aging in Place Guide
    • Insurance, Security, Fraud
    • Intergenerational Programs
    • LGBT
    • Positive/Successful Aging
    • Retirement/Estate Planning
    • Science of Aging
    • Support Resources
    • Travel
  • About
  • Contact