Aging Thoughtfully: Conversations about Retirement, Romance, Wrinkles, and Regret:
We all age differently, but we can learn from shared experiences and insights. The conversations, or paired essays, in Aging Thoughtfully combine a philosopher's approach with a lawyer-economist's.
Here are ideas about when to retire, how to refashion social security to help the elderly poor, how to learn from King Lear -- who did not retire successfully -- and whether to enjoy or criticize anti-aging cosmetic procedures. Some of the concerns are practical: philanthropic decisions, relations with one's children and grandchildren, the purchase of annuities, and how to provide for care in old age. Other topics are cultural, ranging from the treatment of aging women in a Strauss opera and various popular films, to a consideration of Donald Trump's (and other men's) marriages to much younger women.
These engaging, thoughtful, and often humorous exchanges show how stimulating discussions about our inevitable aging can be, and offer valuable insight into how we all might age more thoughtfully, and with zest and friendship.--------
Product details
Hardcover: 264 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (November 1, 2017)------
We all age differently, but we can learn from shared experiences and insights. The conversations, or paired essays, in Aging Thoughtfully combine a philosopher's approach with a lawyer-economist's.
Here are ideas about when to retire, how to refashion social security to help the elderly poor, how to learn from King Lear -- who did not retire successfully -- and whether to enjoy or criticize anti-aging cosmetic procedures. Some of the concerns are practical: philanthropic decisions, relations with one's children and grandchildren, the purchase of annuities, and how to provide for care in old age. Other topics are cultural, ranging from the treatment of aging women in a Strauss opera and various popular films, to a consideration of Donald Trump's (and other men's) marriages to much younger women.
These engaging, thoughtful, and often humorous exchanges show how stimulating discussions about our inevitable aging can be, and offer valuable insight into how we all might age more thoughtfully, and with zest and friendship.
-----------
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Nussbaum and Levmore have written a sweet book on 'humanomics,' deploying economics, law, philosophy, and literature, to craft a multidisciplinary guide to aging. They show that the stories imagined for our lives and our societies give us purchase in a way that science or history cannot quite. Wise in age themselves, Nussbaum and Levmore know full well that tips handed over on a plate like canapés cannot be the point. Old and young need this book."
-Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, UIC Distinguished Professor of Economics and of History Emerita, University of Illinois Chicago
"Aging Thoughtfully advances that goal, portraying the aging process as both universal and utterly idiosyncratic, and urging us to learn from each other and our shared history."--Los Angeles Review of Books
"Not just good but very good... Nussbaum and Levmore are as interested in asking the right questions as they are with notching the right answers."--Dwight Garner, New York Times
"These paired essays really are a conversation - thoughtful, penetrating, and hopeful - between Nussbaum (one of our wisest, smartest writers) and economist and lawyer Levmore."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"Nussbaum and Levmore provide important points for combating ageism while honoring the many changes that accompany aging. Aging Thoughtfully promises to provoke thoughtful discussion, especially among those at the cusp of older adulthood."--Christian Century
------------
Read less
About the Author
Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Love's Knowledge, Sex and Social Justice, Animal Rights (edited with Cass Sunstein), From Disgust to Humanity, and Philosophical Interventions, among many.
Saul Levmore is Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School. He is the co-author of American Guy: Masculinity in American Law and Literature.
Product details
Hardcover: 264 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (November 1, 2017)
--------------
Customer Reviews
3.5 out of 5 stars
24
Hande Z
4.0 out of 5 starsGive it a thoughtDecember 14, 2017
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
This is a book by two scholars from the University of Chicago telling us that old age does not suck. Nussbaum and Levmore have been aging for some time, and from the tone and content of this book, they clearly do not think themselves old. They take turns to express their thoughts on matters that concern people who have reached the point in their lives when aging, retirement, and death begin to intrude into their thoughts. Yet the authors declare that this book is not about dying.
Indeed, it is about living. The crucial qualification is that it is about living when our bodies are no longer youthful, and when there are clearly some physical things we should think carefully before trying. It is a book of encouragement – to think about what we do with the remainder of our lives, having reached thus far.
Retirement is a key point. Here the authors grapple with the question, ought we retire? Nussbaum has no intention to, and plans to continue teaching until death knocks her off her saddle. But the question is a general one as well. It involves issues of selfishness and economics. If the old do not go, how might the young rise to their places? Should we peer into retirement communities? They explore the modern trends, and the way retirement communities will change when societies change.
Using an array of established works by literary writers, from Cicero to Shakespeare, the authors address concerns of inheritance, of distribution when one is old. Using King Lear, they illustrate the problems concerning disinheritance and paying for care in our advanced years. Planning for succession is very much a subject one cannot put away for long. King Lear provides ample material in thinking about this topic.
The book also covers subjects concerning the aging of the body, and what we can do (and not do) about it. Naturally, maintaining beauty in old age is an important point – or is it? The idea of ‘disgust’ is discussed at length because this seems to affect the impressions on aging people, leading to bias and stigma. Sex and love in old age are not taboo or laughable subjects. They are, as the authors show, serious ones, and we can look forward to a more meaningful reflection of a sphere of life that people once thought was a preserve of the young and beautiful. The chapter on aging and friendship is one of the most thought-provoking one. We will enjoy the discussion on convivial conversations and the attraction of gossip, the quality of chatting that differs between younger and older people.
Read less
9 people found this helpful
-----------
Charlie La Rosa
4.0 out of 5 starsEnjoyed it thoroughlyDecember 17, 2017
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
Enjoyed it thoroughly. Love the ingenious format of call and response essays. Thought-provoking for sure, but certainly not a light read. You'll find yourself reading paragraphs a second or third time in order to get all of the levels of meaning. I especially enjoyed Martha's use of the letters between Cicero and his good friend Atticus to illustrate how friendships take on new meaning as we age. Professorial for sure but it will make you think. Isn't that what professors are supposed to do?
4 people found this helpful
----------
William Carpenter
VINE VOICE
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Novel Approach to Good Topics that, Alas, Fails to be Very Interesting
December 11, 2017
Format: Hardcover|Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
This book has eight chapters on topics of interest to the aging including Retirement Policy, Friendship, Aging Bodies, and Distributing Assets. Each chapter has two essays, one each from both authors (Martha Nussbaum and Saul Levmore).
Both authors are professors at the University of Chicago and one of the weaknesses of this book is that they bring an academic perspective to all of the topics. They both exalt in the fact that they face no mandatory retirement age and look forward to working indefinitely. Nussbaum's essays, in particular, tend to be weighted toward cultural analyses including a rather long review of a Chicago production of King Lear and her analysis of several recent movies featuring aging stars in romantic relationships.
Levmore, a lawyer who also has expertise in Economics, tend to be more interesting. This surprised me as I generally prefer the philosophical perspective that I expected Nussbaum, a philosopher, to bring to the book. Both authors' essays suffer from too many references to points made later in the book and too few references to the essays of the author co-author.
The central chapters - which include essays on friendship, bodies, and looking back - are generally worthwhile and I wish they had brought similar energy to the opening and closing essays.
13 people found this helpful
L. Jonsson
VINE VOICE
3.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading look at the aging processJanuary 4, 2018
Format: Hardcover|Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
"Aging Thoughtfully" was marketed to me as a practical book about the aging process. What I found when I read this book is that it was a philosophical look at the aging process, that will appeal to people who want to discuss age as it relates to other things at dinner parties.
This book which is written by Martha Nussbaum and Saul Levmore runs at 251 pages. It includes acknowledgements, an introduction and an index. It is divided into eight chapters, with two different sections-one by Nussbaum and one by Levmore. These sections either oppose one another, or compliment one another on the subject matter presented. Retirement plans, aging bodies, different looking bodies, romance, sex, and society's discrimination toward the elderly are all covered, with pro and con viewpoints. Retirement plans or issues with aging in general are compared to major literary characters (King Lear and how he did not have a good retirement plan) or literary figures such as Cicero and Shakespeare. Celebrities such as Ivana Trump and how they have handled rejection due to aging is also discussed.
This book is interesting if you plan to hold your own at your next dinner party in discussing the psychology of aging and how it applies to celebrities and other historical figures. A good debate will be assured with the introduction of this book, and the topics therein.
However, I was expecting a book that simply discussed growing old and the benefits and drawbacks of the aging process. I feel this book is being marketed incorrectly, and should be marketed as a philosophy or sociology type book and not under the psychology section at all. The topics are difficult enough to talk about, much less read about and the writing style of either author does not help with that. I did not enjoy reading this book and the subject matter is depressing, when it should be enlightening.
Read less
3 people found this helpful
