We live in remarkable times.  The 20^{th &} 21^st Centuries will be looked upon a thousand years from now as the heart of the Longevity Revolution in which human life-spans doubled…and probably tripled.

            As with the great human revolutions before–the Agricultural Revolution of 8000 BC and the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s–everything changes.  Religions appear, political systems morph, classes of society come or go, communications systems are invented, family size alters, new cities and nations are created, and lifestyles never before experienced become commonplace.

            One result of the current Longevity Revolution is the coming into sharper focus of a new life stage I prefer to call the “Second Half.”  For many of us, our careers and our lives as parents come to a close in our late 50s and early 60s.  Yet many of us will enjoy relatively healthy, mobile lives into our 90s, 100s, and even hundred-teens, as “health-spans keep pace with life-spans.

            A new awareness is emerging that this “second half” of 20-30 “bonus years” exists.  Many Americans don’t yet fully perceive it.  The implications of work, marriage, parenting, legacies, friendships, home ownership strategies, finance, learning, and creativity remain still hidden in the fog of traditions that were forge decades and centuries past.

            Sadly, good bookstores don’t yet have sections on the Second Half.  To explore the world of ideas through books, you’ll wander from “Self Help” to “Aging” to “Health and Medicine” and “Psychology.”  Of my personal library of 50+ books on this hopeful new territory, here are a handful of my favorites:

New Passages:  Mapping Your Life Across Time by Gail Sheehy   This astute social journalist hones in on 50 exciting new facets of living after age 40.  Her descriptions of the Flaming 50s, the Serene 60s, the Sage 70s, and the Uninhibited 80s deal equally with issues and opportunities for both men and women.  New Passages is especially readable with hundreds of interviews and anecdotes.

 The Virtues of Aging by Jimmy Carter.   The President ran into some tough psychological and financial times as he moved from his work life to retirement.  His conclusion is that retirement is far less interesting than “refirement.”  This small (just over 100 pages), easy to read book is very important, and joyfully has almost nothing to do with politics.

The Fountain of Age by Betty Friedan    This feminist author (Feminine Mystique) documents our struggle to hold on to the illusion of youth, and observes that we are in truth denying the new triumphs of our second half.  The possibilities she invites are important for men and women in this meaty work of over 600 pages.

Dare to be 100 by Walter Bortz, M.D.   Dr. Bortz of Stanford Medical School is a leading health and aging expert.  In his books (also We Live Too Short and Die Too Long) he documents what other mammal species experience in aging, and concludes that humans have created lives that are far shorter than others in the animal kingdom.  He argues in easy-to-read paragraphs and hyper-short chapters how to extend our years and our enjoyment of them.

The Creative Age by Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D  Professor Cohen unearths research and history to make the case that our vocabularies expand with age, our connections between brain cells increase, and that the Second Half years are a time to turbo-charge our creative energies.  With more discretionary time on our hands, Cohen urges us to learn, to grow, to exercise our full creative and intellectual capacities.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom    This popular, short book is a must.  Albom’s favorite college professor has terminal ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Professor Morrie Schwartz has lessons to teach till his dying breath.  How we can learn to live with a debilitating disease, and break through our self-pity and sorrow to make each day one that we look forward to is a lesson for every soul.

Successful Aging by John W. Rowe, M.D. and Robert L. Kahn, Ph.D.   This is the non-academic report of the McArthur Foundation Study on Aging in America begun in 1987.  Among its important findings:  “Use it or lose it” is a myth when it comes to physical exercise.  We can continue to grow bone and muscle mass after decades of loss.  All we need to do is exercise and keep at it.

Age Power by Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D.   Dychtwald is America’s authority on the impact of the Age Wave on society, politics, business, and our personal lives.  This book is excellent in scanning the landscape of mega-trends and going to the core of what is needed in the next several decades as global aging occurs.

Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer by Connie Goldman and Richard Mahler.    This book offers story after story of people like you and me who carve new paths in their second half.  Less a how-to-do book and more of a how-to-be book, it highlights the importance of humor, spirituality, intimacy, risk taking, and more.