Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read for Baby Boomers
Review: Dr. Sadler has articulated a comprehensive approach for anyone over 40 to contemplate more personal fulfillment in life. This is particularly timely research and analysis as the U.S. is transformed by the wave of baby boomers just beginning to reach traditional retirement age. Boomers will, on average, live longer, more healthy lives than any previous generation. We cannot simply accept that life is "downhill after 50" when there is now a "30-year life bonus" opportunity in front of us.Dr. Sadler's six principles provide a sound basis for understanding and exploring the concept of personal fulfillment and his wonderful individual stories of people he followed for many years help us see these principles in action.
Rating: 
Summary: Contemplating Retirement?
Review: Dr. Sadler has helped my plan for my transition from my first and second ages (achieving, accomplishing what others wanted from me) to my third age where it is OK to do things that I want to do.
The book provided me with suggestions for carrying out this transition and research and examples to convince me of the potential of this period of time in my life.
I would recommend it to any one who is contemplating retirement and is unsure of his or her next steps.
Rating:
Summary: Changing the Paradigm
Review: For those of us in the Baby Boom Generation, between being told that those over 30 are not to be trusted and those over 40 might as well cash it all in, living a full and fulfilling life during those over-40 years seemed unlikely. While society has shown us that those notions hold no water, Sadler's book takes us far beyond into a life and world that makes the first half seem like the necessary foundation for the real fulfillment which will come in our Third Age. This well researched, engagingingly written book allows us to see why and how our latter years are truly our best years - with lives that bring us the fulfillment and enyoyment for which we are meant.
Rating:
Summary: Stimulating, thought-provoking and immensely encouraging
Review: I found this book to be stimulating and encouraging - rather than focus, as so many books do, on traditional concepts of 'aging' and 'retirement' as end points of life, this book illuminates the extraordinary opportunities for growth that can be available to those who permit themselves to take advantage of them. I've read it several times; with each reading, I see more parallels with my life. I would recommend it to anyone reluctant to surrender to stagnation and interested in learning about some remarkable, and clearly real, people.
Rating:
Summary: a culture devoted to youth
Review: In a culture devoted to youth, THE THIRD AGE is a groundbreaking work. At the present time in America, everything old is discarded not repaired. Aging is a subject for jokes, not inspiration and excitement. I am 65 and have suffered the mundane indignities of losing hair, stronger glasses, arthritis and glitches in memory, but having children late in life has encouraged me to crawl on the floor, play horsy and throw a baseball. Naturally I was delighted to read Dr. Sadler's helpful and well researched book, which provides an invaluable conversation about aging, supported by interviews with people who have explored this later period creatively. I don't feel alone in my efforts. There is no other book like it, a book that must be the forefront of a growing movement of concern about how we spend the potentially most productive and creative years of our extended lives.
Rating:
Summary: A Culture Devoted To Youth
Review: In a culture devoted to youth, THE THIRD AGE is a groundbreaking work. In America these days, everything old is discarded, not repaired. Aging is a subject for jokes, not appreciation or understanding. I am 65 and have suffered the indignities of losing hair, stronger glasses, arthritis and glitches in memory, but having children late in life has encouraged me to crawl on the floor, play horsy and throw a baseball. Naturally, I was delighted to read Dr. Sadler's helpful and well researched book, which provides an invaluable conversation about aging supported by interviews with people who have used the unique opportunities of this later period creatively. Reading Dr. Sadler's book, I don't feel alone in my efforts. He's written a wonderful book which must be at the forefront of a growing movement of concern about how we spend the most productive and creative years of our extended lives.
Rating:
Summary: a culture devoted to youth
Review: In a culture devoted to youth, THE THIRD AGE is a groundbreaking work. At the present time in America, everything old is discarded not repaired. Aging is a subject for jokes, not inspiration and excitement. I am 65 and have suffered the mundane indignities of losing hair, stronger glasses, arthritis and glitches in memory, but having children late in life has encouraged me to crawl on the floor, play horsy and throw a baseball. Naturally I was delighted to read Dr. Sadler's helpful and well researched book, which provides an invaluable conversation about aging, supported by interviews with people who have explored this later period creatively. I don't feel alone in my efforts. There is no other book like it, a book that must be the forefront of a growing movement of concern about how we spend the potentially most productive and creative years of our extended lives.
Rating:
Summary: A Culture Devoted To Youth
Review: In a culture devoted to youth, THE THIRD AGE is a groundbreaking work. In America these days, everything old is discarded, not repaired. Aging is a subject for jokes, not appreciation or understanding. I am 65 and have suffered the indignities of losing hair, stronger glasses, arthritis and glitches in memory, but having children late in life has encouraged me to crawl on the floor, play horsy and throw a baseball. Naturally, I was delighted to read Dr. Sadler's helpful and well researched book, which provides an invaluable conversation about aging supported by interviews with people who have used the unique opportunities of this later period creatively. Reading Dr. Sadler's book, I don't feel alone in my efforts. He's written a wonderful book which must be at the forefront of a growing movement of concern about how we spend the most productive and creative years of our extended lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Why I have written this book.
Review: Shortly after starting the research on which this book is based I was teaching a class to traditional students about adult development and aging. When I asked if they thought there could be any added value to life after 50 they all said: No. Aging was loss not gain. They reflected a conventional stereotype of older adults. Yet I was interviewing people whose lives after 50 were unfolding with unexpected richness. They were experiencing the prime of life just when usual expectations would predict decline and degeneration. The conventional view is wrong. The adults I have studied and whose lives I have tracked for a dozen years have shown me new opportunities for renewal and growth extending for decades. I have written this book to share what I have been learning from them about the rich potential we have in the new period of our lives, the third age. After watching their lives unfold, I discovered that they were initiating what I have called "second growth," which is richer, more complex and paradoxical than earlier growth. During their fifties, sixties, and even seventies, the people in this book have kept growing in ways that neither they nor I would have predicted. I hope that readers of my book will be challenged and inspired by their examples and helped by the new theoretical framework I provide for the third age, based on the six principles of second growth.
Rating:
Summary: Great work ... Full of Insight
Review: This book should be reread several times for it's treasure of insights and profound statements. Sadler interviews several candidates displaying second growth, and along the way, he not only introduces us to new possibilities of renewal and personal growth after 40, but also comments on the complexities and subleties of life as experienced by those ahead of our age. His table of contents reads like a list of reflections on life; balancing mindful reflection and risk taking; creating a positive third age indentity; redfining work and play, etc. We often see ourselves in his interviews, and we see how others have overcome difficult situations to restructure their life and re-emerge and remain resilient. I particularly like his interviews with people in their 60s, 70,s 80s, giving us a glimpse of what to expect at that age. A must read!
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