The Upside of Aging
How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose
By: Paul Irving
Narrated by: Rosemary Benson, Derek Shetterly
Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 27-07-2020
Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose
Paul Irving
3.86
22 ratings3 reviews
"The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose" explores a titanic shift that will alter every aspect of human existence, from the jobs we hold to the products we buy to the medical care we receive - an aging revolution underway across America and the world. Moving beyond the stereotypes of dependency and decline that have defined older age, "The Upside of Aging" reveals the vast opportunity and potential of this aging phenomenon, despite significant policy and societal challenges that must be addressed. The book's chapter authors, all prominent thought-leaders, point to a reinvention and reimagination of our older years that have critical implications for people of all ages.With a positive call to action, the book illuminates the upside for health and wellness, work and volunteerism, economic growth, innovation and education. The authors, like the baby boom generation itself, posit new ways of thinking about aging, as longevity and declining birthrates put the world on track for a mature population of unprecedented size and significance. Among topics they examine are: The emotional intelligence and qualities of the aging brain that science is uncovering, "senior moments" notwithstanding.The new worlds of genomics, medicine and technology that are revolutionizing health care and wellness.The aging population's massive impact on global markets, with enormous profit potential from an explosion in products and services geared toward mature consumers.New education paradigms to meet the needs and aspirations of older people, and to capitalize on their talents.The benefits that aging workers and entrepreneurs bring to companies, and the crucial role of older people in philanthropy and society.Tools and policies to facilitate financial security for longer and more purposeful lives.Infrastructure and housing changes to create livable cities for all ages, enabling "aging in place" and continuing civic contribution from millions of older adults.The opportunities and potential for intergenerational engagement and collaboration.The Upside of Aging defines a future that differs profoundly from the retirement dreams of our parents and grandparents, one that holds promise and power and bears the stamp of a generation that has changed every stage of life through which it has moved.
306 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2014
Book details & editions
Product description
From the Publisher
PAUL H. IRVING is president of the Milken Institute, where he leads initiatives to improve public health and aging across America and the world, expand capital access, and enhance philanthropic impact. Under his direction, the Institute produced the widely acknowledged Best Cities for Successful Aging index. Formerly CEO of a large professional services firm and a corporate lawyer, Irving remains actively involved in global business and charitable leadership in his ?encore career?.
From the Inside Flap
An aging revolution is changing the world, a titanic shift that will alter every aspect of human existence. The Upside of Aging: How Long Life is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose moves beyond the stereotypes of dependency and decline that have defined older age to look at aging in a new way. Exploring the vast potential of longer lives, The Upside of Aging reveals how the challenges can be met with positive solutions for people of all ages.
The authors, all prominent thought leaders, reveal the remarkable upside for health, work and entrepreneurship, volunteerism, innovation, and education, as longevity and declining birth rates create a mature population of unprecedented size and significance. In enlightening, fact-based chapters, the writers examine dramatic opportunities arising from the intelligence of the aging brain, and the health and wellness revolution emerging from the worlds of genomics, medicine, and technology. They describe the enormous profit potential from the aging demographic's massive impact on global markets, the attributes of a mature workforce, the tools to make our older years purposeful and financially secure, and the new education paradigms incorporating older people as students and scholars. They detail the baby boomers' crucial role in philanthropy and intergenerational collaboration, and discuss the development of livable cities that herald even more civic contribution from millions of older adults.
With insight and intelligence, The Upside of Aging defines a future that differs profoundly from the retirement dreams of our parents and grandparents, one that holds promise and power and bears the stamp of a generation that has changed every stage of life through which it has moved.
From the Back Cover
An aging revolution is changing the world, a titanic shift that will alter every aspect of human existence. The Upside of Aging: How Long Life is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose moves beyond the stereotypes of dependency and decline that have defined older age to look at aging in a new way. Exploring the vast potential of longer lives, The Upside of Aging reveals how the challenges can be met with positive solutions for people of all ages.
The authors, all prominent thought leaders, reveal the remarkable upside for health, work and entrepreneurship, volunteerism, innovation, and education, as longevity and declining birth rates create a mature population of unprecedented size and significance. In enlightening, fact-based chapters, the writers examine dramatic opportunities arising from the intelligence of the aging brain, and the health and wellness revolution emerging from the worlds of genomics, medicine, and technology. They describe the enormous profit potential from the aging demographic’s massive impact on global markets, the attributes of a mature workforce, the tools to make our older years purposeful and financially secure, and the new education paradigms incorporating older people as students and scholars. They detail the baby boomers’ crucial role in philanthropy and intergenerational collaboration, and discuss the development of livable cities that herald even more civic contribution from millions of older adults.
(With insight and intelligence, The Upside of Aging defines a future that differs profoundly from the retirement dreams of our parents and grandparents, one that holds promise and power and bears the stamp of a generation that has changed every stage of life through which it has moved.
About the Author
PAUL H. IRVING is president of the Milken Institute, where he leads initiatives to improve public health and aging across America and the world, expand capital access, and enhance philanthropic impact. Under his direction, the Institute produced the widely acknowledged Best Cities for Successful Aging index. Formerly CEO of a large professional services firm and a corporate lawyer, Irving remains actively involved in global business and charitable leadership in his “encore career”.
Read less
Product details
Publisher : Wiley; 1st edition (11 April 2014)
Language : English
Hardcover : 304 pages
Paul Irving
Paul H. Irving is chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, chairman of the board of Encore.org, and distinguished scholar in residence at the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology. He previously served as the Milken Institute’s president, an advanced leadership fellow at Harvard University, and chairman and CEO of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a law and consulting firm.
Author of “The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose,” a Wall Street Journal expert panelist and contributor to the Huffington Post, PBS Next Avenue, and Forbes, Irving also serves as a director of East West Bancorp, Inc. and Pharos Capital BDC, Inc., and on advisory boards at USC, Stanford, and U.C. Berkeley, the Global Coalition on Aging, and WorkingNation. He has been involved in healthy aging initiatives at the National Academy of Medicine and the Bipartisan Policy Center, and was a participant in the 2015 White House Conference on Aging.
PBS Next Avenue named Irving an “Influencer” for his leadership in the field of aging. He has been honored with the Janet L. Witkin Humanitarian Award by Affordable Living for the Aging, the Life Journey Inspiration Award by Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute, and the Board of Governors Award for outstanding contributions to society and the law by Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
Read less
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed345
5.0 out of 5 stars The Future
Reviewed in the United States on 23 May 2014
Verified Purchase
People have always been good at solving new challenges, and one of the biggest for the 21st century will be how to creatively think about the vast possibilities generated by aging populations around the world.
This book give a number of expert-level views of where these opportunities might be and how to harness changes that are on the horizon. In contrast to many analyses that are merely problem-focused, Paul Irving, President of the Milken Institute, has brought together creative thinkers to outline what directions are being taken and to give a sense of what the future holds. A must-read for those in business, government, and philanthropy who are thinking about the future of society.
Report
ROBERT ARMOUR
4.0 out of 5 stars We are getting older and better
Reviewed in the United States on 20 August 2014
Verified Purchase
Just received the book. Need to read it. From what I see it looks like it will do a great job of helping us understand a lot of the dynamic changes that are going on now and will continue on into the future. We need to develope "Soft Eye" vision.
Report
LakeHouseFamily
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a positive and inspiration message!
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2017
Verified Purchase
I bought this for a diversity of perspectives and for richly cited resources and this book over delivers on that! While some essays can be a little repetitive, they do so in support of each unique essay's authors thesis, which I'm ok with. Wide ranging and informative!
Report
atmj
3.0 out of 5 stars On the verge of societal shift: What are we going to do about it?
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2014
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
I’ve struggled with this book. While I agree on the premise, it is a hard book to read.
This is a statement from the back cover: “Paul Irving assembles the leading thinkers to examine the most transformative demographic issue of our time”. While this sounds compelling and it is, each person’s section sets you up for their viewpoint. Which means you are provided demographic data for the first third of that section . This information is essentially the same information, packaged differently from the previous sections you read. On whole it gets very repetitive. This does take away from the compelling information inside.
Overall the message is not so much the upside of aging, but we have to prepare for a larger aging population than we have ever had in the past.
*** There will be a 3X proportion change to those not working to those working.
*** Retirement is not a thing to be had at 65, but more a third act.
*** Issues such as Alzheimer’s loom large as aging still represents a higher risk for this disease and greater number of older people means greater numbers of people suffering from dementia and not productive members of society as the third act would imply.
*** We get to see Europe and Japan lead the way.
*** Older people in the US will be improportionately Caucasian and female relative to the rest of the population.
Overall this book is not so much about the “upside”, though it is wonderful that we are now living this long, but that living longer is something we need to accommodate better. This means health care, agism in employment, housing, transportation, education all have to factor in. Previously all these things have been heavily focused on a much younger demographic. This book is a call to action, not how these issues have been solved.
Read less
14 people found this helpful
Report
davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on 8 December 2014
Verified Purchase
A plethora of information that is interesting and new from a number of perspectives. Not finished, but really enjoying it. Highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Aaron
74 reviews · 16 followers
Follow
September 16, 2021
What a fascinating book. Set up as a series of essays from national private and public sector leaders, this collection of thoughts around aging is truly paradigm shifting. To think this book is 7 years old is truly remarkable as many of the insights and predictions have come true.
Big takeaways for me were:
The idea of a “gap year(s)” as a transition in mid life.
Continuing education and all the different types of re-education one can pursue for a second (or even third career)
The crossover of majority-minority population by 2030. Fascinating essay by a boomer minority.
The paradigm shift of retirement. I particularly enjoyed Pizzo’s view on retirement not being a destination, but a continuum of life and a transition. Perhaps even removing the idea of retirement in general.
A few of the statistics on health and retirement (not aging…specifically retiring) were sobering.
As a 37 yo white male, my views on “retiring” have been altered after this read.
2021 top-10-aging-longevity
Like
Comment
Dianne J.
214 reviews
Follow
January 24, 2016
Wonderful compilation of viewpoints and great ideas on how to live those extra years we can have due to increase life expectancy's. In Chapter 6 Michael W. Hodin likens the attitudes of men regarding women stealing away their jobs as they joined the workforce en masse during the middle of the 20th century to the prevailing outlook that an aging workforce may prevent younger workers from moving up the ladder in their careers. Hodin makes the case that as women entered the workforce in great numbers they added a new perspective to how to work and handle a variety of issues just as older workers offer a varied perspective that can only enrich the workforce during the 21st century. [Page 92]
Marc Freedman; Founder and CEO of Encore.org makes a convincing argument for our government to create a law much like the Servicemen's Readjustment Act or GI Bill of 1944. An Encore Bill would allow middle-aged workers to transition into a career “at the intersection of passion, purpose and a paycheck.” The Encore Bill would provide funding for education, exploration, even internships into career paths not get discovered. [Pages 101-107]
As CEO of AARP, A. Barry Rand puts it, “. . . each individual’s life is an experiment of one.” [Page 245] I can see that with greater educational opportunities and continued advances in medical discoveries there is no need to retire, but a chance to transition on to new and meaningful ways to live life.
Like
Comment
Terri
952 reviews · 37 followers
Follow
April 11, 2017
I came across "The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose" when I participated in a web conference that featured twelve renowned experts, including Paul Irving, speaking on different aspects of the aging process. What an incredible eye-opener this book was for me! It taught me, first and foremost, that what I was experiencing as a recent sixty year old retiree, was normal. Due to lower birth rates and increased longevity, Baby Boomers are experiencing an aging revolution. The paradigm for what aging and retirement looks like is being turned upside down - and I am in the middle of it! Everything from community development, to housing, to health and wellness, to life-long learning, to careers, to travel, to entertainment, to transportation, to caregiving, to spirituality, to politics, to volunteerism, to mental health, etc. is on the table as we look at the second half of life across the globe. "The Upside of Aging" provides a nice umbrella sort of overview of all of the issues involved in regards to the aging revolution. It is a great place to start for anyone at this stage in the journey. Every person over the age of 50 should read this book!
Like
Comment
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
====
306 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2014
Book details & editions
Product description
From the Publisher
PAUL H. IRVING is president of the Milken Institute, where he leads initiatives to improve public health and aging across America and the world, expand capital access, and enhance philanthropic impact. Under his direction, the Institute produced the widely acknowledged Best Cities for Successful Aging index. Formerly CEO of a large professional services firm and a corporate lawyer, Irving remains actively involved in global business and charitable leadership in his ?encore career?.
From the Inside Flap
An aging revolution is changing the world, a titanic shift that will alter every aspect of human existence. The Upside of Aging: How Long Life is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose moves beyond the stereotypes of dependency and decline that have defined older age to look at aging in a new way. Exploring the vast potential of longer lives, The Upside of Aging reveals how the challenges can be met with positive solutions for people of all ages.
The authors, all prominent thought leaders, reveal the remarkable upside for health, work and entrepreneurship, volunteerism, innovation, and education, as longevity and declining birth rates create a mature population of unprecedented size and significance. In enlightening, fact-based chapters, the writers examine dramatic opportunities arising from the intelligence of the aging brain, and the health and wellness revolution emerging from the worlds of genomics, medicine, and technology. They describe the enormous profit potential from the aging demographic's massive impact on global markets, the attributes of a mature workforce, the tools to make our older years purposeful and financially secure, and the new education paradigms incorporating older people as students and scholars. They detail the baby boomers' crucial role in philanthropy and intergenerational collaboration, and discuss the development of livable cities that herald even more civic contribution from millions of older adults.
With insight and intelligence, The Upside of Aging defines a future that differs profoundly from the retirement dreams of our parents and grandparents, one that holds promise and power and bears the stamp of a generation that has changed every stage of life through which it has moved.
From the Back Cover
An aging revolution is changing the world, a titanic shift that will alter every aspect of human existence. The Upside of Aging: How Long Life is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose moves beyond the stereotypes of dependency and decline that have defined older age to look at aging in a new way. Exploring the vast potential of longer lives, The Upside of Aging reveals how the challenges can be met with positive solutions for people of all ages.
The authors, all prominent thought leaders, reveal the remarkable upside for health, work and entrepreneurship, volunteerism, innovation, and education, as longevity and declining birth rates create a mature population of unprecedented size and significance. In enlightening, fact-based chapters, the writers examine dramatic opportunities arising from the intelligence of the aging brain, and the health and wellness revolution emerging from the worlds of genomics, medicine, and technology. They describe the enormous profit potential from the aging demographic’s massive impact on global markets, the attributes of a mature workforce, the tools to make our older years purposeful and financially secure, and the new education paradigms incorporating older people as students and scholars. They detail the baby boomers’ crucial role in philanthropy and intergenerational collaboration, and discuss the development of livable cities that herald even more civic contribution from millions of older adults.
(With insight and intelligence, The Upside of Aging defines a future that differs profoundly from the retirement dreams of our parents and grandparents, one that holds promise and power and bears the stamp of a generation that has changed every stage of life through which it has moved.
About the Author
PAUL H. IRVING is president of the Milken Institute, where he leads initiatives to improve public health and aging across America and the world, expand capital access, and enhance philanthropic impact. Under his direction, the Institute produced the widely acknowledged Best Cities for Successful Aging index. Formerly CEO of a large professional services firm and a corporate lawyer, Irving remains actively involved in global business and charitable leadership in his “encore career”.
Read less
Product details
Publisher : Wiley; 1st edition (11 April 2014)
Language : English
Hardcover : 304 pages
Paul Irving
Paul H. Irving is chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, chairman of the board of Encore.org, and distinguished scholar in residence at the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology. He previously served as the Milken Institute’s president, an advanced leadership fellow at Harvard University, and chairman and CEO of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a law and consulting firm.
Author of “The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose,” a Wall Street Journal expert panelist and contributor to the Huffington Post, PBS Next Avenue, and Forbes, Irving also serves as a director of East West Bancorp, Inc. and Pharos Capital BDC, Inc., and on advisory boards at USC, Stanford, and U.C. Berkeley, the Global Coalition on Aging, and WorkingNation. He has been involved in healthy aging initiatives at the National Academy of Medicine and the Bipartisan Policy Center, and was a participant in the 2015 White House Conference on Aging.
PBS Next Avenue named Irving an “Influencer” for his leadership in the field of aging. He has been honored with the Janet L. Witkin Humanitarian Award by Affordable Living for the Aging, the Life Journey Inspiration Award by Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute, and the Board of Governors Award for outstanding contributions to society and the law by Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
Read less
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed345
5.0 out of 5 stars The Future
Reviewed in the United States on 23 May 2014
Verified Purchase
People have always been good at solving new challenges, and one of the biggest for the 21st century will be how to creatively think about the vast possibilities generated by aging populations around the world.
This book give a number of expert-level views of where these opportunities might be and how to harness changes that are on the horizon. In contrast to many analyses that are merely problem-focused, Paul Irving, President of the Milken Institute, has brought together creative thinkers to outline what directions are being taken and to give a sense of what the future holds. A must-read for those in business, government, and philanthropy who are thinking about the future of society.
Report
ROBERT ARMOUR
4.0 out of 5 stars We are getting older and better
Reviewed in the United States on 20 August 2014
Verified Purchase
Just received the book. Need to read it. From what I see it looks like it will do a great job of helping us understand a lot of the dynamic changes that are going on now and will continue on into the future. We need to develope "Soft Eye" vision.
Report
LakeHouseFamily
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a positive and inspiration message!
Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2017
Verified Purchase
I bought this for a diversity of perspectives and for richly cited resources and this book over delivers on that! While some essays can be a little repetitive, they do so in support of each unique essay's authors thesis, which I'm ok with. Wide ranging and informative!
Report
atmj
3.0 out of 5 stars On the verge of societal shift: What are we going to do about it?
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2014
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
I’ve struggled with this book. While I agree on the premise, it is a hard book to read.
This is a statement from the back cover: “Paul Irving assembles the leading thinkers to examine the most transformative demographic issue of our time”. While this sounds compelling and it is, each person’s section sets you up for their viewpoint. Which means you are provided demographic data for the first third of that section . This information is essentially the same information, packaged differently from the previous sections you read. On whole it gets very repetitive. This does take away from the compelling information inside.
Overall the message is not so much the upside of aging, but we have to prepare for a larger aging population than we have ever had in the past.
*** There will be a 3X proportion change to those not working to those working.
*** Retirement is not a thing to be had at 65, but more a third act.
*** Issues such as Alzheimer’s loom large as aging still represents a higher risk for this disease and greater number of older people means greater numbers of people suffering from dementia and not productive members of society as the third act would imply.
*** We get to see Europe and Japan lead the way.
*** Older people in the US will be improportionately Caucasian and female relative to the rest of the population.
Overall this book is not so much about the “upside”, though it is wonderful that we are now living this long, but that living longer is something we need to accommodate better. This means health care, agism in employment, housing, transportation, education all have to factor in. Previously all these things have been heavily focused on a much younger demographic. This book is a call to action, not how these issues have been solved.
Read less
14 people found this helpful
Report
davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on 8 December 2014
Verified Purchase
A plethora of information that is interesting and new from a number of perspectives. Not finished, but really enjoying it. Highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Aaron
74 reviews · 16 followers
Follow
September 16, 2021
What a fascinating book. Set up as a series of essays from national private and public sector leaders, this collection of thoughts around aging is truly paradigm shifting. To think this book is 7 years old is truly remarkable as many of the insights and predictions have come true.
Big takeaways for me were:
The idea of a “gap year(s)” as a transition in mid life.
Continuing education and all the different types of re-education one can pursue for a second (or even third career)
The crossover of majority-minority population by 2030. Fascinating essay by a boomer minority.
The paradigm shift of retirement. I particularly enjoyed Pizzo’s view on retirement not being a destination, but a continuum of life and a transition. Perhaps even removing the idea of retirement in general.
A few of the statistics on health and retirement (not aging…specifically retiring) were sobering.
As a 37 yo white male, my views on “retiring” have been altered after this read.
2021 top-10-aging-longevity
Like
Comment
Dianne J.
214 reviews
Follow
January 24, 2016
Wonderful compilation of viewpoints and great ideas on how to live those extra years we can have due to increase life expectancy's. In Chapter 6 Michael W. Hodin likens the attitudes of men regarding women stealing away their jobs as they joined the workforce en masse during the middle of the 20th century to the prevailing outlook that an aging workforce may prevent younger workers from moving up the ladder in their careers. Hodin makes the case that as women entered the workforce in great numbers they added a new perspective to how to work and handle a variety of issues just as older workers offer a varied perspective that can only enrich the workforce during the 21st century. [Page 92]
Marc Freedman; Founder and CEO of Encore.org makes a convincing argument for our government to create a law much like the Servicemen's Readjustment Act or GI Bill of 1944. An Encore Bill would allow middle-aged workers to transition into a career “at the intersection of passion, purpose and a paycheck.” The Encore Bill would provide funding for education, exploration, even internships into career paths not get discovered. [Pages 101-107]
As CEO of AARP, A. Barry Rand puts it, “. . . each individual’s life is an experiment of one.” [Page 245] I can see that with greater educational opportunities and continued advances in medical discoveries there is no need to retire, but a chance to transition on to new and meaningful ways to live life.
Like
Comment
Terri
952 reviews · 37 followers
Follow
April 11, 2017
I came across "The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose" when I participated in a web conference that featured twelve renowned experts, including Paul Irving, speaking on different aspects of the aging process. What an incredible eye-opener this book was for me! It taught me, first and foremost, that what I was experiencing as a recent sixty year old retiree, was normal. Due to lower birth rates and increased longevity, Baby Boomers are experiencing an aging revolution. The paradigm for what aging and retirement looks like is being turned upside down - and I am in the middle of it! Everything from community development, to housing, to health and wellness, to life-long learning, to careers, to travel, to entertainment, to transportation, to caregiving, to spirituality, to politics, to volunteerism, to mental health, etc. is on the table as we look at the second half of life across the globe. "The Upside of Aging" provides a nice umbrella sort of overview of all of the issues involved in regards to the aging revolution. It is a great place to start for anyone at this stage in the journey. Every person over the age of 50 should read this book!
Like
Comment
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
====
