Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife Paperback – March 14, 2017

The media could not be loaded.  Are you floundering in midlife without a sense of direction and purpose? This book will definitely help you.Do you want to stave off dementia and cognitive decline?This is a book about midlife management. Prior journalist, Barbara Bradley Hagerty seeks answers from the world's top minds through a memoir format. Hagerty interviews business people, professors, educators, and doctors to obtain competing opinions, just like a journalist. The author is credible.We go batty in our midlife because we have no externally imposed framework (semesters, sports, children, etc.) like we had in our younger years. It's time to renegotiate your purpose.Cherish your friendships, exercise, and keep your mind engaged. That, and so much more. My favorite was called "The Shifting Sands of Friendship." We need solid friendships to avoid the growing problem of loneliness. Hagerty incorporates neurology, psychology, biology, genetics, and sociology.Exercise is the Michael Jordan of cognition. Raise your heart rate, break a sweat, or better yet, compete in a sport event.Purposefully engage your mind throughout life. Learning new languages, instruments, and skills is smart strategy. We want to increase neuroplasticity. We want to grow new nerve tissue. We want to form new neural networks.Give a way time and money. Volunteer at least 2 hours per week. It will help with depression and boost your immune system.She addresses generativity, which is our lifelong impulses to invest in future generations.There really is no such thing as a midlife crisis. It's just how we adapt to changing circumstances. Reframe your perspective. I enjoyed this. I hope you will too.

This is a well written book by an accomplished author. Liked what the author had to say and read it over the Easter weekend.Why I liked the book:-* Well written story that seamlessly combines personal experience, interviews and review of research and other writing.* The material spoke to me personally - I'm 58 - and the advice and ideas came across as reasonable and thoughtfulWhat concerned me about this book:-I had the same concerns with this book as I did with Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg; Lean In and Life Reimagined are books written by highly educated middle class (at least) white people; and I ask myself how relevant the ideas and solutions presented are for the battlers of society. That's a question Hagerty asks when she refers to the audience of National Public Radio in the US as "highly intelligent and mostly white" , but then goes straight on to mostly talk to that audience.Hagerty does acknowledge the impact of economic circumstances on life (those who work at Lowe's for $10 per hour, or who have lost their homes through foreclosure), but the bulk of the book is implicitly focused on those who have the intellect, educational background and time available to reflect that a minimum financial base allows. That worries me. To some extent, this is a book aimed at those of us who have the first 4 levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs sorted out and can spend time on "self actualization".One part that Hagerty could have left out is the section on her brother. Her brother Dave is the owner of The Atlantic. "Dave's life looks enviable: He is wealthy, with a beautiful wife and 3 exceptional boys educated at Yale or Princeton" . Dave is used as an example of a "new sort of generative phrase, one that accords with the definition I am advocating for people in midlife: targeting a problem using one's unique talents and resources". Dave generative phase is admirable; helping to release middle east hostages. I would have preferred an example more relevant for the "common" man or woman.Fortunately for myself, I am well educated and moderately well off, so the message of this book works for me (with an occasional question mark)

This book impacted me on many levels. At 54, I hit a wall about 4 years ago. This was during a time of juggling a job promotion, a very ill mother who needed my time and attention, a teenage daughter who also needed me also, and completing a Bachelor's degree that I had chipped away at for over 20 years (and wasn't willing to quit...again). I had my first panic attack which was a real eye-opener. I've been doing a sort of "crisis" evaluation for the past few years and this book has shed a lot of light into the shadowed corners. First and foremost, I appreciate the science and research cited in this book. I've read about the amygdala for years, but it's only with this book that I've come to understand how it interacts with other regions of the brain. Also, information on what we can do to prepare for an "engaged" post-employment period will hopefully stave off dementia and contribute to quality of life in twilight years, these are important topics and it's caused me to open up conversations with others who are in midlife to ask - how will you stay engaged? What are your plans? And I ask myself those same questions.There's so much in this book that I love. The links between body and mind are talked about a lot. I felt that this book spoke directly to someone in my age group and I plan to refer to it (and try to adhere to its advice) in the coming years/decades.

love the writing, but bogged down in research results. Less a guide and more an echo chamber of the same message science reveals over and over again. it is wonderful that this incredibly candid, talented journalist took years to collect it in one place, but I gave up reading it because I was expecting more than the "science" part of the "science, art, and opportunity".

An excellent book, well written, thoughtful, honest and poignant: I would recommend this book to anyone - young, middle-aged, or old - it is a thought-provoking heavyweight in the arena of books about ageing. The author inspires her readers to think and imagine having a future in their mid to later years, and she is incredibly honest about her own struggles and the obstacles she had to overcome to arrive where she is now in her own life journey.

Wise, beautifully researched book with much to offer in the way of hope and practical advice. I dog-eared 3/4s of the pages throughout the book.

I have many books on the subjects covered in this book so most of it is not new to me but the way it is presented is very user friendly. The style has kept me very engaged. I find myself repeating the facts and stories that have been presented. Well researched and written.

Highly recommended!