Getting Good at Getting Older

by Richard Siegel, Rabbi Laura Geller

Overview

2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist!

From the creator of the best-selling The Jewish Catalog a tour for all of us "of a certain age" through the resources and skills to navigate the years between maturity and old age. It brings humor, warmth, and more than 4,000 years of Jewish experience to the question of how to shape this new stage of life. 

Organized into six sections, each devoted to getting good at: 

• Gaining Wisdom:  learning, personal growth, and self-discovery
• Getting Along:  dealing with aging parents, adult children, grandchildren, deepening intimacy, and friendship
• Getting Better:  taking care of your emotional self, facing the reality of our aging bodies, visiting someone who's sick 
• Getting Ready:  organizing and planning for the inevitable 
• Giving Back:  volunteering, mentoring, and getting involved 
• Giving Away:  leaving a legacy, not a landfill 

Features dozens of original black and white line art pieces by noted cartoonist Paul Palnik, and chapter contributions from more than a dozen experts in the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874419856
Publisher:	Behrman House, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	310
Sales rank:	178,663
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Richard Siegel created The Jewish Catalog, the best-selling resource that galvanized a generation of Jews energized by the American counterculture of the late '60s and early '70s. He had a long career in Jewish professional leadership and cultural innovation. He died in the summer of 2018, as this book was nearing completion.

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2019

Both of these books posit that people can thrive during late life. In Eightysomethings, social psychologist Esty interviews 120 seniors leading fulfilling lives, classifying them as deniers, complainers, worriers, stoics, and realists—demarcations that, she explains, are helpful for families wishing to build relationships with their elders. The author further provides engaging conversation starters for families at the end of each chapter.

Getting Good at Getting Older, from Siegel (The Jewish Catalog) and rabbi Geller, offers a "how to" on aging, using the "best practices" from Eightysomethings to generalize aspects of aging common to all. In addition to discussing the more positive benefits of gaining gratitude, the authors address giving up one's driver's license and having the last word in funeral planning, while supplying a wealth of tools and resources for everything from coping with illness to leaving a legacy. VERDICT Both titles are recommended for filling a gap in the aging literature, with Eightysomethings catering to a definite niche audience, and Getting Good for anyone over 60.

Library Journal