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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 [Hardcover]

Bruce Frankel
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 4, 2010
Read Bruce Frankel's posts on the Penguin Blog



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, 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. At the age of fifty-three, he completed an MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College and began publishing in literary journals. He coauthored the bestseller Life: World War II – History’s Great Conflict in Pictures and has held positions at People, USA Today, and Gannett Westchester Newspapers, where he was a prizewinning columnist and investigative reporter. He lives in New York City.

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
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

4.5 out of 5 stars
(14)
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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
Format: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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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Dust Off Your Bucket List! May 12, 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
"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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars There's Always Tomorrow October 17, 2010
Format:Hardcover
On the eve of my 45th birthday (as I do on the eve of most birthdays), I am reflecting. The year. The years. The decade. Where did it go?

Bruce Frankel's "What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life?" underscores to all of us that tomorrow will be as full as all our yesterdays. With personal investment into every individual's storyline, Bruce Frankel offers an inspiring capture of thirteen remarkable people in the back part of life.

This is a 'crossroads' read. It's not solely about the latter years of life. It's about mindset. At any age, this read is relevant and uplifting. It will shake the cobwebs off a Gen-Xer as readily as it will a Baby Boomer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Ideas for the Baby Boom Generation
I'm on the leading edge of the "baby boom" which is now going to create a "retirement boom" in the coming years as time marches on. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Clif
5.0 out of 5 stars A Life Ring in the Rapids
Many of us find ourselves looking for work right when we expected to be contemplating retirement. It can be an upsetting and discouraging time in our lives. But wait! Read more
Published 11 months ago by Simon James
3.0 out of 5 stars Wrong title for this book
It makes it sound like a more helpful item than it is - and what it is, is a collection of stories celebrating 13 people who've achieved something substantial after the age of... Read more
Published 13 months ago by mellow
2.0 out of 5 stars middle-of-the-road
I thought I was buying a book about opportunities and ideas about how to navigate the retirement years. What I got was biographies. There is a slight difference here. Read more
Published 20 months ago by nononsense
5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious reading for embarking on the 3rd Age
Bruce Frankel gathered stories that will amaze you. Each person's story is delicious to read about. There is Thomas Dwyer, a 70-something man who had never danced, who joined a... Read more
Published on May 3, 2011 by Karma B. Kitaj
5.0 out of 5 stars Making the ordinary extraordinary
Many people beginning the so called "third age," wonder the same thing as Bruce Frankel's title: "What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life? Read more
Published on December 19, 2010 by V. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars And you thought that you were too old to move on?
There are thirteen interesting persons in this book whose lives challenge our traditional assumptions about old age. Read more
Published on November 27, 2010 by susavel
5.0 out of 5 stars The strength of the human spirit
If you want to be moved by the strength of the human spirit and inspired by lives well lived, read this book. Read more
Published on October 24, 2010 by Judy Rosemarin, Executive Coach
5.0 out of 5 stars It's Never Too Late to Bloom!
If you're wondering if it might be too late to achieve your goals, or are thinking of giving up on your dreams, please read Bruce Frankel's wonderful and inspiring book, What... Read more
Published on July 19, 2010 by Tomar Levine
5.0 out of 5 stars Reinvent Yourself
Bruce Frankel's book "What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life?" should be required reading for everyone who reaches age 50. Read more
Published on June 24, 2010 by Alice J. Hornbaker
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