On Turning Sixty-Five: Notes from the Field [Paperback]

John Jerome (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2000

"Personally, I've got a lot invested in reaching my stunning current age, and I'm damned if I'm going to hang on to that youthful crap. (I liked the idea of being a sixty-year-old so much I started claiming that age before I turned fifty-nine.) Parts of it, I don't like--the loss of energy that seems its inevitable accompaniment, for example--but when I consider how I used to boil that energy away as a younger man, and the things I boiled it away on, I am happy to accept a shorter tether and a more reflective way of going at things."


John Jerome, author of such beloved books as Truck and Stone Work, entered his sixty-fifth year with a number of goals in mind: to battle the debilities of age, to master them through understanding when he could not physically defeat them, and to keep a journal of these efforts. As he puts it, "It was time to start planning an endgame."

The result is a warm, compassionate, and honest look at the twelve months that led him to the gateway of old age--a survey of this time of life which ranges from strict physiology to expansive philosophy, from delicate neurosurgery to rough weather on a Canadian canoeing trip, from the despair and isolation of illness to the love and comfort of a sound marriage. The writing, in its clarity, grace, and humor, matches its author's spirit. "The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our time," Jerome reminds us. Reading this wise and funny chronicle of one man's--and everyman's--journey toward citizenship, senior division, will be time well spent, for young and old alike. It is that rare kind of book which comes to life as a companion, and even a friend.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"It's going to happen to you," Jerome writes at the outset of this deeply personal (and occasionally depressing) memoir about growing old, "and the outcome is ultimately going to be negative." Inspired by a rereading of Henry David Thoreau, outdoor enthusiast Jerome (The Elements of Effort, etc.) decided to spend his 65th year considering the philosopher's eternally poignant question: How to live? This book is the quiet, melancholy result. Month by month, as Jerome reflects on the emotional and physical effects of aging--the new limitations of his body, the distress of losing his contemporaries to illness and death, the adjustments in his priorities and lifestyle--he records the changes, big and small, brought on by the pasing years. Describing his struggle to "draw the line between fighting and accepting," he chronicles his disappointment when he and his wife, Christine, find they don't have the brawn to take as many summer canoe trips as they had planned. He also details his efforts to neutralize the aging process: he juggles to strengthen his cognitive skills, swims to strengthen his body, and attempts to maximize pleasure--in his sex life, his diet and alcohol consumption. Jerome's humorous and gently self-deprecating style serves him well; although he offers no new insights on age and death, his talent for conveying his experience with an evolved, observant awareness makes this capably written book relevant for anyone facing 65. Agent, Denise Shannon. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Generally, 65 marks the beginning of old age and intense self-reflection. Encouraged after rereading Henry David Thoreau, Jerome, a columnist for Esquire and the author of Blue Rooms, Truck, and Stone Work, wrote this month-by-month journalistic account of the feelings and events he experienced in the year before his 65th birthday. All too aware of his mortality, Jerome vowed to confront the weaknesses of aging, overcome them through understanding when he could not physically beat them, and keep a record of his efforts. His entries contain a mixture of the physiology of aging, philosophical allusions to Thoreau, and reflections from his own life (e.g., his disappointment when he and his wife discover that they are not strong enough to canoe as much), interspersed with subtle touches of humor. Vividly and entertainingly written, Jerome's "notes from the field" offer helpful insight into growing old gracefully. Recommended for most public libraries and special collections on aging.DElizabeth Goeters, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Dunwoody
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Random House (June 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812992334
• ISBN-13: 978-0812992335
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,283,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Autumn thoughts, February 8, 2001

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Turning Sixty-Five: Notes from the Field (Hardcover)

It takes a certain amount of moxie to publish a memoir about yourself as you lapse into fogeville. I wouldn't have the nerve, fearing not so much that I would bore my readers, but that I would reveal the poverty of my mind for all the world to see. Two hundred and fifty pages, perhaps 75,000 words of, by and about myself! Now that's a little scary.

So it was with some misgivings that I picked up this handsome book by John Jerome, professional writer, editor and (I could quickly see) prose stylist extraordinary. Well, I'm glad I did. He did a lot of research on aging and it shows. That knowledge, along with his observations on the experience of aging, is what makes this book so interesting. We geezers like to compare notes, and with Jerome we have someone who likes to share. I'm sure by now he wishes that he HAD taken out all the "embarrassing stuff," but we, John, are glad you left it in!

Jerome gives us a little of what he likes to do, satisfying work, canoeing, gin and tonic in the evenings. He recalls his neck surgery and a canoeing trip, why he cuts the grape vines and why he chased the beaver from his pond. He makes me jealous as hell with his idyllic New England lifestyle and his beautifully rendered prose. He makes sharp observations (One of the benefits of aging: "...no one's looking. You're invisible when you're old" p. 237; "Most men bore each other stiff" p. 242), and tosses out witty asides ("I am in favor of sensation for the aging...Let us celebrate our nerve endings while we can" p. 238) like there's nothing to this writing gig. That's one of the beautiful things about being a writer: you can still make those words dance when you're sixty-five. (The Beatles lyric from a few decades back, "Will you still need me/Will you still heed me...when I'm sixty-four?" is jumping through my head. Stop it!) Or at least John Jerome can make those words dance. His self-deprecating, yet self-affirming style reads as easy as shucked oysters going down. I'll whisper this since I'm sure it's a heresy, but I find him a lot more interesting than that Thoreau guy he keeps quoting.

He waits until the latter chapters to talk about suicide and sex. For me he could have waited a little longer with the sex. As he notes, referencing writer Tim Cahill, "Nobody, ever, is interested in your bowel movement" p. 102. Amen, I say and add the sex life of old men. But Jerome knows this. I think he felt, after having scolded Thoreau for leaving sex out of his journals, that he ought to fess up. He sees suicide as "An option, that's all. If and when." (Although he reports on having tried it when he was ten.) And then there is this profound insight on page 250: "Kevorkian, I now realize, serves a level of despair much deeper than I can quite conceive."

The book ends with these memorable words (as Jerome joyously contemplates a task that needs doing yet again): "After all, as Camus pointed out, Sisyphus was essentially a happy man."

Thanks, John, for sharing, and for expressing it all so well.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An education!, September 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: On Turning Sixty-Five: Notes from the Field (Hardcover)

I just turned 62 and my parents are 82 and 85!!! So this book covered all bases. I really need all the info this book provides. Along with being informative, it is entertaining. So glad I came across this book. Easy reading but I'm reading it slowly to make it last! P.S. Wonderful picture on the cover, however, I wish the title was something different. I read it between a brown paper bag! Ok, so, don't you glance at the title of the book that folks read in public...and rush to judgement? Heavens forbid that someone would think I was approaching 65!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing for me, June 5, 2006

By 

Rikker - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On Turning Sixty-Five: Notes from the Field (Paperback)

I found this book phenomenally disappointing. As an aging athlete, dedicated to staying in shape as much as possible, Jerome's many previous books as a "masters athlete" have helped give me a path to follow.

Since I'm pushing the 60s myself, I couldn't wait to get this book to get some cheering information on fighting "the good fight." Age will always be our strongest opponent, and demands the best effort, dedication, ingenuity, and attention to training.

I had hoped for advice and guidance on how to do better, train smarter, and still get the best out of my body at 60+. Instead, I got a lot of Jerome musing about his short-comings, his aging body, and his limits. If I'd wanted wry musings about old age and death I would have bought Philip Roth's "Everyman." But then, I wouldn't have learned much about training, which come to think of it, I didn't in this book either.

On its own terms, a pleasant enough read -- Jerome always writes well. But if you're a serious athlete looking to take seriously the challenges of age, I'd look someplace else.