What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half ofLife [Hardcover]

Bruce Frankel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2010

An award-winning journalist offers exhilarating tales of "late bloomers" who prove that it's never too late to sign a new lease on life

In today's world, the question "What should I do with my life?" only scratches the surface. Now, more and more people-from baby boomers retiring from their "first act" to people in their forties and fifties forced to reconsider their careers in this gloomy economy-are finding themselves wondering how to find new stimulation and meaningful work over a lifetime. Bringing together a diverse array of stories, veteran journalist Bruce Frankel brings to life a mesmerizing series of profiles of men and women who discovered a new calling, success, or purpose later in life. Brimming with inspiration and humanity, What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life? celebrates activists, artists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, and others who found extraordinary ways to experience true fulfillment in the second half of life.

On these pages, readers will meet a civil servant, laid off at age fifty-two, who enrolled in graduate school, earning a Ph.D. in psychology; a former consultant who began a microfinance program in Africa; a longtime contact-lens grinder who has chisled twelve hundred stone heads on a property now known as the "Easter Island of the Hudson"; and many others who proved that age is a spark-not a barrier. Full of spirit and plenty of chutzpah--and winner of the Nautilus Silver Award and Axiom Business Book Award--this book shows that anything is possible in any stage of life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bruce Frankel''s upbeat, inspiring, timely book shows how taking a risk and fighting to find a passionate career-at any age-can reinvigorate your life. This should be required reading for anyone starting out, laid off, downsized, or just ready for reinvention."
-Susan Shapiro, author of Speed Shrinking and Only as Good as Your Word

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Bruce Frankel is a writer, reporter, and poet. He has held positions at People magazine, USA Today, and Gannett Westchester Newspapers, where he was a prizewinning columnist and investigative reporter.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Avery (March 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583333657
• ISBN-13: 978-1583333655
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Self-Help > Inner Child

More About the Author

Bruce Frankel conceived of What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life? in 2006 when he was struggling to answer that question. Three years earlier, at the age of fifty-three, he had completed an MFA program in poetry at Sarah Lawrence College.

He was a co-writer of the bestseller Life: World War II - History's Greatest Conflict in Pictures (2001). He has held positions at People magazine and USA Today, where he covered major breaking news, trials, politics, organized crime and terrorism. He began his career in journalism at The Reporter Dispatch, in White Plains, New York, where he was a prizewinning columnist and investigative reporter.

He earned a bachelor's degree in government from Franklin & Marshall College in 1971. He was born in Miami Beach, Florida and grew up in nearby Hollywood, where his father owned a dress store. At age 11, he moved with his family to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, and later to Long Beach, New York, where he graduated from high school. He now lives in New York City. He is the father of three sons-- a musician, a chef, and a high school sophomore-- and the owner of two mini dachshunds and a 17-year-old cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling inspiring page-turner, March 7, 2010

By 

movin' mama - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half ofLife (Hardcover)

What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life? is a compelling and inspirational book. Though non-fiction, author Bruce Frankel has produced a page-turner. The people who animate these true stories are at once ordinary and extraordinary. Each chapter, from one about a housewife who rebels against her authoritarian banker-husband and religious strictures by opening a museum of erotic art, to one about a widower who becomes an award winning writer as he approaches his 100th birthday, is touched by the magic of passionate people who refuse to quit. They are determined to bestow their dreams upon world. In them, we encounter not only ourselves, but our better selves. We mourn their losses and are cheered by their triumphs.

Boomers take heart! Indeed, everyone-- young or old-- struggling in these tough times, should read this book. It left me craving more -- more profiles, more lessons, more hope. This is a great gift book! Mr. Frankel, a sequel, please!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's never too late to go on with your life., March 9, 2010

By 

Poppy J. - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half ofLife (Hardcover)

What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life? By Bruce Frankel, is a book that chronicles the lives of people who are well past retirement age, and who are ready to begin what would be the "end" of their lives. It is a difficult idea to write that these people were actually at the end of anything, since they were obviously at the age where anyone would have retired, but they kept going. And found new ways to redefine themselves and who they are, and pick up where they left off looking for the answer to their life's dreams.

We all know that it is possible to pick ourselves up again after a personal loss, a bankruptcy or a tragedy. In these stories there are heart-warming moments and people who had the strength to pursue their lives at any age. There is the story of a teacher who started off as a substitute and went on to teach in schools where she was needed the most. At sixty-eight years old, she is making a difference in the lives of her students. Another story centers on an inventor who had success, then had setbacks because of a mismanagement error at a company she trusted. Eventually she prevailed, but not without some soul searching as to what she really wanted and what success would really be worth to her.

Each story tells of the men and women who overcame the odds, and their stories are an inspiration for us all. In these times of a downturned economy, anyone at any age can learn to reinvent who he or she is to find a new career or a new place in the job market. Success can be found anywhere and it is there for the taking.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dust Off Your Bucket List!, May 12, 2010

By 

Evelyn McCormack "Avid Reader" (White Plains, NY, US) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half ofLife (Hardcover)

"What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life? True Stories of Finding Success, Passion and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life," is a charming, inspiring look at the lives of 13 individuals who decided in the latter half of their lives to embrace opportunities, as author Bruce Frankel says in his introduction, "that can scarcely be imagined or foretold."
Among the memorable characters in "What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life" is Thomas Dwyer, a former government employee who took up modern dance in his fifties, Alidra Solday, who decided at age 58 (and after recovering from breast cancer) to become a documentary filmmaker, and Loretta Thayer, who was so moved by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, that she decided to fulfill a long-time dream of re-opening a local diner and establishing it once again as a gathering place for folks in her hometown.
Frankel weaves perspective, history and details in and around each of his subjects, including the traumatic events -- illness, death, divorce and more - that shaped these 13 individuals and likely contributed to their pursuit of lifelong learning and growth.
This is the book that could get you off the couch and on the path to whatever dream has eluded you. Pull out your bucket list and get to work.