The Third Age: Six Principles for Personal Growth and Rejuvenation after Forty [Paperback]

William Sadler (Author), Ph.D., William A. Sadler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2001

Medical and technological breakthroughs have given most of us the equivalent of a thirty-year life bonus. As a result, we face a new period in the middle of our lives, what Europeans call the third age, which challenges us to change the way we live and transform the way we age. But rediscovering a youthful spirit and staying truly involved in life demands an attitudinal shift, a resistance to outdated stereotypes, and an effort to balance the seemingly paradoxical pulls on our time and energy. Practically instructive and powerfully inspiring, The Third Age expertly guides us toward and through the second half of our lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Unlike scholars who view human development in terms of stages or life cycles, sociology professor Sadler prefers the current European view of life past 50 as the third age (the fourth is old age), and offers encouraging evidence of the potential for continued growth and lifelong learning. From his 12-year study of several dozen men and women aged 45 to 80, he draws unconventional principles for creating midlife renewal, which he supplements with suggestions on how readers can develop and nurture them in their own lives. Among the apparently paradoxical strategies that consistently emerge from his inspiring and honest portraits of his vibrant subjects are balancing mindful reflection with risk taking; balancing personal freedom with deeper relationships; creating a positive identity and maintaining optimistic realism; creating meaningful work and play; caring for the self and for others. Sadler's theoretical framework makes his advice more thought provoking than prescriptive, so this gracefully written volume is more challenging than many self-help guides. Still, contemplative readers will find it accessible and absorbing. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The Third Age is a valuable reminder that midlife can be at least as rewarding as youth." -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

"Through enlightening interviews and commentary, Sadler shows us a path to mindful aging." -- Ellen Langer, author of Mindfulness and The Power of Mindful Learning

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073820434X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738204345
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #907,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a culture devoted to youth, April 8, 2000

By 

john conger - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Third Age: The Six Priciples Of Personal Growth And Renewal After 40 (Hardcover)

In a culture devoted to youth, THE THIRD AGE is a groundbreaking work. At the present time in America, everything old is discarded not repaired. Aging is a subject for jokes, not inspiration and excitement. I am 65 and have suffered the mundane indignities of losing hair, stronger glasses, arthritis and glitches in memory, but having children late in life has encouraged me to crawl on the floor, play horsy and throw a baseball. Naturally I was delighted to read Dr. Sadler's helpful and well researched book, which provides an invaluable conversation about aging, supported by interviews with people who have explored this later period creatively. I don't feel alone in my efforts. There is no other book like it, a book that must be the forefront of a growing movement of concern about how we spend the potentially most productive and creative years of our extended lives.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great work ... Full of Insight, August 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Third Age: Six Principles for Personal Growth and Rejuvenation after Forty (Paperback)

This book should be reread several times for it's treasure of insights and profound statements.

Sadler interviews several candidates displaying second growth, and along the way, he not only introduces us to new possibilities of renewal and personal growth after 40, but also comments on the complexities and subleties of life as experienced by those ahead of our age.

His table of contents reads like a list of reflections on life; balancing mindful reflection and risk taking; creating a positive third age indentity; redfining work and play, etc.

We often see ourselves in his interviews, and we see how others have overcome difficult situations to restructure their life and re-emerge and remain resilient.

I particularly like his interviews with people in their 60s, 70,s 80s, giving us a glimpse of what to expect at that age.

A must read!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stimulating, thought-provoking and immensely encouraging, June 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Third Age: Six Principles for Personal Growth and Rejuvenation after Forty (Paperback)

I found this book to be stimulating and encouraging - rather than focus, as so many books do, on traditional concepts of 'aging' and 'retirement' as end points of life, this book illuminates the extraordinary opportunities for growth that can be available to those who permit themselves to take advantage of them. I've read it several times; with each reading, I see more parallels with my life. I would recommend it to anyone reluctant to surrender to stagnation and interested in learning about some remarkable, and clearly real, people.