The Upside of Aging Hardcover - 2014

From the jacket 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.