Here are 100 books that Dynamic Aging fans have personally recommended if you like
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I guess we all have a "calling." Mine has always been to explore the deeper, darker, less palatable aspects of being human. I’m a bit like a space explorer of the human psyche. I’m lucky in the sense that my day job permits me to research, teach, and better understand things like love, death, and loneliness. I’ve been researching and writing about them for many years now. I always treasure books that help me to shed light on these themes. They are like shiny pebbles or jewels that I pick up and keep in my pocket. I hope you enjoy and learn from some of the treasures in my personal collection!
This book invited me to think about how we age and meet death in contemporary Western societies.
I have seen people close to me die. I watched as my grandma, then my grandpa, and then my father passed away. They each, in different ways, faced the brutal realities of growing old and they encountered a healthcare system that ultimately medicalized their death and the aging process–striving to ‘eek out’ more time, as though that was the only honorable thing to do.
Atul Gawande’s book really taught me to reflect critically on that.
'GAWANDE'S MOST POWERFUL, AND MOVING, BOOK' MALCOLM GLADWELL
'BEING MORTAL IS NOT ONLY WISE AND DEEPLY MOVING; IT IS AN ESSENTIAL AND INSIGHTFUL BOOK FOR OUR TIMES' OLIVER SACKS
For most of human history, death was a common, ever-present possibility. It didn't matter whether you were five or fifty - every day was a roll of the dice. But now, as medical advances push the boundaries of survival further each year, we have become increasingly detached from the reality of being mortal. So here is a book about the modern experience of mortality - about what it's…
At just fifty-four, my husband Steve was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2004. After practicing as a physician specializing in newborn intensive care for thirty years, I found myself at the opposite end of the spectrum, learning everything I could about Alzheimer’s. In 2008, Steve had a dramatic improvement in his symptoms lasting nearly four years from consuming ketogenic coconut oil and MCT oil, a low-carb whole food diet, and later a ketone ester developed at the NIH. I knew that if Steve improved many others would as well, and have been compelled to share this information by speaking and writing about ketones as an alternative fuel for the brain.
The Blue Zonesby Dan Buettner is a fascinating look at populations around the world with high concentrations of centenarians, including detailed interviews with these very elderly people, to learn what factors might explain their longevity and good health—what they eat and how they go about their daily lives.
I found it interesting and inspirational to get such an intimate peek into the lives of individuals from different cultures who have lived much longer than most of us can hope for.
A long, healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer. Buettner has led teams of researchers across the globe--from Costa Rica to Sardinia, Italy, to Okinawa, Japan and beyond--to uncover the secrets of Blue Zones. He found that the recipe for longevity is deeply intertwined with community, lifestyle, and spirituality. People live longer and healthier by embracing a few simple but powerful habits, and by creating the right community around themselves. In The…
As a life coach and author of two dozen self-help books, I’ve spent the past twenty years helping people prepare for, plan, and go through major life changes, such as the transition to retirement. I’ve interviewed dozens of retirees about the challenges and opportunities they’ve experienced during their retirement. I’ve designed this guide so you can be strategic in choosing your path, overcome challenges, and make adjustments to make the most of this chapter of your life.
Money is the biggest concern for most people thinking about retirement. Suze Orman is the queen of straight-talk about how best to manage your finances during this chapter of your life. She explains practical steps you need to take to make sure you have enough money to last your lifetime. I love that she is ruthless about making readers consider the long-term effects of their purchases and financial decisions.
THE PATH TO YOUR ULTIMATE RETIREMENT STARTS RIGHT HERE
When you think about planning for retirement - whether it's years in the future or just around the corner - you're bound to have questions. Can I ever afford to stop working? Will Social Security be there for me when I need it? How can I make my money last? Have I waited too long to start saving?
Suze Orman, America's most recognized expert on personal finance, answers all the questions that keep you up at night - starting with the biggest one: It is never too late to start planning…
Estelle and I created the list of books based on our over 50 years of combined expertise in helping others to thrive in their careers. Our passion is facilitating the instruction, training, coaching, and professional development to help individuals reach their career goals. We wrote the book about thriving in careers and created a podcast about thriving in careers with over 30 episodes to help others reach their personal and career goals. At the same time, we want others to be their authentic self while thriving in their careers.
I really love this book because it changed the trajectory of my entire career. I was a business major in high school and continued as a business major while working on my bachelor’s degree. However, I did not feel that working only in business was my true passion.
The book explored not only job-hunting tools but also provided tools for reflection on deciding what you really want to do as a career. After reading this book, I earned a master’s and doctoral degree working with adult learners, which is my true passion. I love the book because its advice and guidance were relevant for being my authentic self and thriving in a career that best fits my skills and passion.
With timeless advice, up-to-the-minute insights, and more than ten million copies sold over fifty years, the world’s most popular and best-selling career guide is fully revised and expanded for 2022.
“One of the first job-hunting books on the market. It is still arguably the best. And it is indisputably the most popular.”—Fast Company
What Color Is Your Parachute? is the world’s most popular job-hunting guide. This completely updated edition features the latest resources, strategies, and perspectives on today’s job market, revealing surprising advice on what works—and what doesn’t—so you can focus your efforts on tactics that yield results.
I have been a spiritual seeker my entire life, drawn to the mysteries of life, the nature of the soul, the afterlife, intuitive knowing, higher consciousness, and psycho-spiritual transformation. Besides the numerous personal teachers who have enriched my path, personal/ spiritual growth books have been a powerful guide and inspiration. In my coaching practice “Touch The Soul”, I continually draw on my own 70 plus years of acquired elder wisdom as well as the wisdom of so many who have come before me, writers and wayshowers of expansive spirituality.I am grateful to share a few books which may enlighten and deepen your own spiritual journey.
An icon of the 60's spiritual revolution, Ram Dass, 30 plus years later, reveals the wisdom of his elder years following his stroke as he faced radical self-birthing. With sharp insight, humor, and humility he shares his fears of living and dying and the spiritual beliefs that sustain him. His chapter on “Learning to Die” is exceptionally poignant as he addresses three major questions: How do I deal with the process of dying, what happens at the moment of death and what will happen after death? As an elder woman myself, I treasure this as a truly comforting beacon for elders and for anyone who knows and loves them.
More than thirty years ago, an entire generation sought a new way of life, looking for fulfillment and meaning in a way no one had before. Leaving his teaching job at Harvard, Ram Dass embodied the role of spiritual seeker, showing others how to find peace within themselves in one of the greatest spiritual classics of the twentieth century, the two-million-copy bestseller Be Here Now. As many of that generation enter the autumn of their years, the big questions of peace and of purpose have returned demanding answers. And once again, Ram Dass blazes a new trail, inviting all to…
My mom was an anthropologist, and when I was two, she took me to Sri Lanka, the island off the tip of India. After years of insisting that I wanted nothing to do with any social science, let alone anthropology, I ended up in graduate school studying… anthropology. Long story. Having taken up the family mantel, I returned to the village where I lived as a child and asked what had changed in the intervening years. Since then, my Sri Lankan interlocutors have suggested book topics that include labor migration, the use and abuse of alcohol, the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the challenges of aging.
This ethnographic work delves into the lives of elders in Calcutta, India, including those who age in place with family nearby, those whose children have migrated abroad, and those who follow their family members to the US. I particularly love the way the author roots the work in traditional South Asian concepts of age and family relationships while dealing simultaneously with social changes such as India’s urbanization and economic liberalization, the out-migration of skilled tech workers, and the introduction of old folks’ homes in urban areas. The sensitive portrayal of life histories made me both laugh and cry.
The proliferation of old age homes and increasing numbers of elderly living alone are startling new phenomena in India. These trends are related to extensive overseas migration and the transnational dispersal of families. In this moving and insightful account, Sarah Lamb shows that older persons are innovative agents in the processes of social-cultural change. Lamb's study probes debates and cultural assumptions in both India and the United States regarding how best to age; the proper social-moral relationship among individuals, genders, families, the market, and the state; and ways of finding meaning in the human life course.
As a student, one day, I noticed that something was wrong with our world. Older people are separated from younger ones and sometimes almost invisible. I decided to focus on researching whether and how older people organize themselves into groups and influence important areas of social, economic, and political life. The study of the social capital of older adults led me to research on age discrimination, intergenerational relationships, age-friendly communities and cities, social innovation, co-design, citizen science, and public policy on ageing. I am convinced that only multi-sectoral and multi-level cooperation can lead to the implementation of constructive responses to today’s global challenges.
Iparraguirre made an extreme effort and contributed with probably the first comprehensive textbook focused on relationships between economics and ageing.
The final volume covers topics essential for the field of public policy on ageing. The analyses start with measurement and policies concerning happiness and quality of life.
Further, the volume undertakes crucial questions regarding inequalities, poverty, intergenerational relationships, housing, behavioral economics, the political economy of ageing, the silver economy, and the consumer society.
This upper level textbook provides a coherent introduction to the economic implications of individual and population ageing. Placing economic considerations into a wider social sciences context, this is ideal reading not only for advanced undergraduate and masters students in health economics and economics of ageing, but policy makers, professionals and practitioners in gerontology, sociology, health-related sciences, and social care. This volume introduces topics in the economics of happiness, quality of life, and well-being in later life. It also covers questions of inequality and poverty, intergenerational economics, and housing. Other areas described in this book include behavioural economics, political economy, and…
My mom was an anthropologist, and when I was two, she took me to Sri Lanka, the island off the tip of India. After years of insisting that I wanted nothing to do with any social science, let alone anthropology, I ended up in graduate school studying… anthropology. Long story. Having taken up the family mantel, I returned to the village where I lived as a child and asked what had changed in the intervening years. Since then, my Sri Lankan interlocutors have suggested book topics that include labor migration, the use and abuse of alcohol, the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the challenges of aging.
The authors in this lively edited volume provide eight short, readable chapters about migration and aging that span the globe, from Vienna to Ecuador to Upstate New York. How do elders displaced from Tibet think about a “second exile” in the United States? Do Bosnian migrants’ remittances make up for their long absences, or would it be better to stay home but not provide financial support? These ethnographers offer riveting windows into intergenerational relations in transnational families around the world.
World-wide migration has an unsettling effect on social structures, especially on aging populations and eldercare. This volume investigates how taken-for-granted roles are challenged, intergenerational relationships transformed, economic ties recalibrated, technological innovations utilized, and spiritual relations pursued and desired, and asks what it means to care at a distance and to age abroad. What it does show is that trans-nationalization of care produces unprecedented convergences of people, objects and spaces that challenge our assumptions about the who, how, and where of care.
I am an anthropologist and former owner of a tech company. I saw firsthand how technology was changing society in the early twenty-teens, and knew that we were experiencing a compounding paradigm shift. I have a passion for telling stories and preserving the past for future generations — the stories that our grandchildren will ask about, just as we asked our grandparents about the great wars and depression.
I didn’t come across this book until my own had already been published. Pillemer worked hard to interview over a thousand elders about their lives. The stories are touching, and the advice time-tested.
My favorite section was about raising children. How to allow our little humans to become full individuals while also nurturing them to the greatest extent. The stories weren’t always rosy — some elders shared deep regrets — which I appreciated even more.
“Heartfelt and ever-endearing—equal parts information and inspiration. This is a book to keep by your bedside and return to often.”—Amy Dickinson, nationally syndicated advice columnist "Ask Amy"
More than one thousand extraordinary Americans share their stories and the wisdom they have gained on living, loving, and finding happiness.
After a chance encounter with an extraordinary ninety-year-old woman, renowned gerontologist Karl Pillemer began to wonder what older people know about life that the rest of us don't.
His quest led him to interview more than one thousand Americans over the age of sixty-five to seek their counsel on all the big…
Like the Bach sisters in my novel Things We Do For Love, my sisters and I have cared for our mother, who battles Alzheimer's. Witnessing her transformation from a vibrant powerhouse to someone resembling the Walking Dead has been heart-wrenching. Despite the emotional rollercoaster, this journey has deeply connected us with our mother. Delving into the depths of her being has been a privilege, offering profound insights into her true essence. This challenging experience has unfolded as a disguised blessing. In this journey, we've discovered the beauty of unconditional love that binds our family together. It reflects the central question of my novel: What truly makes a happy family?
The moment I started reading this book, its tone gripped me instantly.
It fearlessly presents challenging and daunting situations with a mix of wit and courage. Darkly observant, the story unfolds with a blend of humour, fondness, and a hint of irony, making "The Leisure Seeker" a bittersweet fable of the golden years.
The book fearlessly confronts the realities and indignities of aging and disease, yet it doesn't fail to celebrate life, embracing every precious moment left in the lives of the characters, even if they are old geezers.
While the subject matter could lead to a somber narrative, the book takes an unexpected turn, becoming a genuinely life-affirming and highly entertaining tale, defying the omnipresent shadow of mortality.
This is the unforgettable cross country journey of a runaway couple in their twilight years determined to meet the end of all roads on their own terms. "The Leisure Seeker" is the story of John and Ella Robina, a couple married 50+ years - she has stopped her cancer treatments, he has Alzheimer's - who kidnap themselves from the adult children and the doctors who seem to run their lives, and steal off on a forbidden vacation. Each battling their own infirmities, John pilots their '78 Leisure Seeker RV (it's the one with the left turn signal blinking) along the…
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
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