Customer Reviews

Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After 50 Years (Culture Tools)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Learning should be a lifelong project, according to the author of `Learning Later, Living Greater,' Nancy Nordstrom. She herself went back to school at the age of 51 for a masters degree and then pursued a new career.

She spells out three types of learning: learning in the classroom, through educational travel, and through community service. "Lifelong Learning expands your intellectual, social, spiritual and physical horizons," she writes. In other words, mind can continue to grow even at an age when it is expected to decline.

Nordstrom cites research that mental decline as we age is not automatic. Instead, it is entirely possible to grow new brain cells as old ones age, if we give ourselves the stimulation of challenges. Active lifelong learning can provide a "Learning Vaccine", in the words of Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a researcher and author of "Brain Health and Wellness."

In an interview, Nordstrom called "lifelong learning a health club for the mind, body and spirit." She says medical science has begun to find evidence that the brain will grow, adapt and repair itself, if it is kept stimulated and challenged.

Nordstrom's book and website, learninglater.com, give tons of suggestions for meaningful volunteer work. Many new retirees are looking for more interesting volunteer assignments that have more responsibility.

Those over the age of 50 or so generally have a void once child rearing is done, and this is where "lifelong learning can step in to fill the void. Being engaged in lifelong learning enlarges the scope of our interests, provides opportunities to meet new people, keeps us current and active, expands our horizons, and provides opportunities to develop new ideas and handle change."

Lifelong learning expert Nancy Merz Nordstrom and critically acclaimed writer Jon F. Merz present Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years, a guide to reaping the benefits of lifelong learning. From why learning is important to stimulate activity in the aging brain, to pros, cons and distinctions of classroom learning as compared to learning through educational travel or through volunteer work, to where to find the most innovative lifelong learning programs, Learning Later, Living Greater effectively demystifies the fun and life-enriching promise of improving one's knowledge. Highly recommended.

This is the best book ever - written describing this College program about "the boys and the girls with the Grandma and Grandpa faces". I have been an active participant in an Institute for Learning in Retirement program at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois for the last twelve years. This book describes a similar program with incredible insight. For me it was an accurate - fun, fast, and easy read.

Filled with useful tips and lots of resources, this book helps the reader makes his retirement years happy, productive years. A must read.

Joan Fitting Scott
Skinning the Cat: A Baby Boomer's Guide to the New Retiree Lifestyles

Lifelong learning expert Nancy Merz Nordstrom and critically acclaimed writer Jon F. Merz present Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your After-50 Years, a guide to reaping the benefits of lifelong learning. From why learning is important to stimulate activity in the aging brain, to pros, cons and distinctions of classroom learning as compared to learning through educational travel or through volunteer work, to where to find the most innovative lifelong learning programs, Learning Later, Living Greater effectively demystifies the fun and life-enriching promise of improving one's knowledge. Highly recommended.
[....]