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141 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Personal Stories From the Third Chapter of Life, February 8, 2009
The Third Chapter looks at the stage of life from ages 50 - 75. The author approaches this stage of life from her perspective as an educational sociologist. The book's premise is that life's third chapter is one of substantial growth and change. This change is based on learning. The author defines learning in this stage of life as not traditional learning, but as a mid-life process of "changing, adapting, exploring, mastery and channeling energies, skills and passions into new domains."
Through my recent work and study in this area, I have come to appreciate the importance the third chapter plays in our lives. While I recognized its importance, I missed its significance. According to the author, "The third chapter represents a significant and new developmental period in our culture, one that comes along only once a century."
The basis of the book is forty interviews conducted over a two year period. These interviews were conducted with both men and women between the ages of 50 and 75 who had made significant life changes during this period. Many of the interviewee's stories are told in great detail. Weaved into the book are a number of theoretical frameworks, dominated by the theoretical frameworks developed by developmental psychologist Erik Erickson and cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson.
While the individual stories bring value and insight to the book, at times I felt they were a distraction. Personally, I would have preferred seeing less depth in the stories presented and more of the author's interpretation of each story. Despite this drawback, I felt the book was definitely worth reading. Approaching this topic from an educational and sociological perspective was a new learning for me.
If, like me, you are a student of the third chapter of life, I would recommend you read this book as part of your learning process.
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122 of 140 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Third Chapter: Life after Retirement for the Privileged, February 16, 2009
I recently read a novel (can't remember the title) which takes place in France and referred to the Third Chapter of life. This terminology has apparently been common for years, but author Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot takes credit for the coinage. I was eager to learn about people who had successfully made this transition, as my life could benefit from more passion, risk and adventure. Unfortunately, the people interviewed in this book all seem to be highly privileged: judges, corporate lawyers, physicists, entrepreneurs. What can I learn from a woman who ditches her career to write plays, and who collaborates with her friend who is a famous broadway composer? Ms. Lawrence-Lightfoot might have considered how ordinary people with family obligations, or lacking fortunes, could find their bliss after 50.
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51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Some Nuggets of Wisdom, But Too Much Academic Navel-Gazing, August 5, 2009
I approached this book with eager anticipation, having seen Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot on television, making her points eloquently to Charlie Rose. I was disappointed by the book, however. The style was off-putting, and the substance was too often elusive.
The author's ponderous, repetitive academic writing reduces the promised exploration of "Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50," the book's subtitle, to a sort of "Chicken Soup for Aging Dummies." First, she spends several pages telling us what the chapter is going to be about. Then, she tells us. Then, she summarizes what she has told us. It doesn't help that quotation marks seem to be "sprinkled" about, "willy nilly" (you get the picture!). Sometimes they appear to refer to actual comments from those she interviewed, but more often they seem capricious. Digging for the content is a challenge, and it becomes tempting just to speed-read in the hope that a nugget or two of new and/or useful insight will leap off the pages.
Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot's major points are sound. The challenge of finding meaning in life's later phases is not new, but the quest looms larger as Baby Boomers enter their Third Chapter. It is a shame, then, that the author's storytelling is limited to anecdotes about well-educated people who have had successful careers and amassed sufficient financial resources to minimize the risks of their Third Chapter adventures. Most American seniors do not have these luxuries, and for them - especially women - the risks are likely to be too great.
I wish that the stories themselves had been less about contemplation - "going home," breaking old patterns, the introspective blah blah blah about which so much has been written - and more about the pitfalls and rewards of action. In one chapter, Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot relates a discussion with an interviewee who has discovered Habermas's theories of three stages of boundary-crossing. The third stage, her subject emphasizes, is about taking action: "This is the transformative part. The whole thing is not just to sit around, ruminate, and talk. The talk must lead to action."
As someone who is herself navigating through the Third Chapter, I found this book validating, but not transformative. I would have welcomed some light-bulb moments, some off-the-wall ideas, some radical insights into a journey that I agree should be fraught with passion, risk, and adventure.
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