The Measure of My Days (Paperback)

~ Florida Scott-Maxwell (Author) "We who are old know that age is more than a disability..." (more)
Key Phrases: The Measure of My Days, Nursing Home

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Playwright and Jungian analyst Florida Scott-Maxwell explores the unique predicament of one's later years: when one feels both cut off from the past and out of step with the present; when the body rebels at activity but the mind becomes more passionate than ever. Written when Maxwell was in her eighties, The Measure of My Days offers a panoramic vision of the issues that haunt us throughout our lives: the struggle to achieve goodness; how to maintain individuality in a mass society; and how to emerge--out of suffering, loss, and limitation--with something approaching wisdom. Maxwell's incredible wisdom, humanity, and dignity make The Measure of My Days both timeless and timely--an important contribution to the literature of aging, and of living.

"Pure gold. . . . Here is essential writing, profound, compassionate. . . . I have read it slowly, marking almost every page."-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"A great, pulsating, sensitive, heartbreaking, loving, and joyous book which simply celebrates life."-- Malcolm Boyd

About the Author

Florida Pier Scott-Maxwell (1883-1979) was a writer, playwright, and suffragist who took up a career in analytical psychology in 1933, studying under Carl Jung in both Scotland and England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; 1 edition (January 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140051643
• ISBN-13: 978-0140051643
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #349,430 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, Reflective and Deep, May 1, 2004

By	Karen B. Chenier "kchenier" (LA, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a pleasure it was to read this book! Dr. Scott-Maxwell's book brings the aging process into consciousness, with seminal thoughts reflecting on Jungian ideas (opposite natures, inner-outer experiences, differentiation, the unconscious and God). The book is written in a format of a personal, meditation essays.

Noted author Alice Walker said in an NPR interview (April 26th, 2004), that the grandmother spirit, the "cinder grandmother", is missing in our culture. Florida Pier Scott-Maxwell is a voice that should be heard.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the Final Analysis, May 2, 2000

By	Mary Emerson-Smith "So many books, so little ... (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If there were only one book i could take with me on the last leg of this earthly journey, it would be this one. This is an unflinching view of life from the vantage point of very old age.

8 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Measure Of My Days, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

In attempting to complete an assigment, I purchaced this book. I was pleased to find such positive reviews. After I recieved this book I started to attempt to read and understand this author. I am sorry to say but I should have choose a different author. Much of the book was writen in a form of a women's ponderings with no real frame of referance to work from. I feel that this is because of the education of the author. When the author actually did give framework like when she was with her grandson and how he looked at the world with fresh eyes it was easy to relate and understand where she was comeing from. I found that at the end of the assignment, I did something with a book that I never do and that was throw it away.