RESOURCES

BOOKS

THESE ARE ON MY TO-BE-READ PILE FOR 2025!

Radical Endurance: Growing Old in an Age of Longevity (Andrea Gilats)

A personal guide to the transformations, hard truths, profound pleasures, and infinite possibilities of aging. Radical Endurance is a guide and a companion through the experience of growing old as well as an unconventional coming-of-age story, celebrating a new stage of life when we need it most.

Ageing Upwards: A mindfulness-based framework for the longevity revolution (Berit Lewis)

Berit Lewis shows that the story we so often tell ourselves about ageing – that it’s all downhill from 50 – is simply wrong. Combining her extensive experience in teaching mindfulness with her knowledge of how to live and age well, she reveals a simple framework that can help you make the most out of those extra years of living.

BOOKS I’VE READ AND RECOMMEND:

On The Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity & Getting Old (Parker J. Palmer)

This book of essays and reflections is one I return to time and again. I was first introduced to Palmer’s work when I attended my first Courage and Renewal retreat. His wisdom, views on aging, and belief that we all have inner wisdom guides my writing and my life.

Women Rowing North: Nourishing Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age (Mary Pipher)

My copy of this book is full of post-it notes and scribblings; another book I return to regularly. I will be forever grateful that Pipher has allowed me to use Women Rowing North as the tagline for my life story writing workshops.

The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom (Angeles Arrien)

As I delve into this book again, at the age of 64, fifteen years after I took a workshop based on the book’s reflections and practices, I am aware how much I have changed and grown over that time. I wonder what I will think of Arrien’s writings in another fifteen years?

The Lioness in Winter: Writing An Old Woman’s Life (Ann Burack-Weiss)

This is another book I read several years ago that I have just dusted off and started reading again. Burack-Weiss, a social work practitioners who worked in gerontology for many years, analyzes the late-life work of women authors, many who hold a special place in my heart - including Mary Oliver, May Sarton, Florida Scott Maxwell, and Maya Angelou.

You Look Good For Your Age: An Anthology (Rona Altrows)

I love hearing women’s stories - that’s one of the reasons why I facilitate life story writing workshops! This is a book about women and ageism. Twenty-nine contributing writers share their opinions, impressions, and speculations on aging, ageism and their own growth as people.

Psychology of Positive Aging (Ellen Heuven)

This book, by Dutch researcher Ellen Heuven, links the life stories of twenty women from around the globe with scientific insights with a focus on the conditions that support well-being in aging.