Freedoms After Fifty

Rating:
Summary: Great Gift For 50th Birthday
Review: Excellent read. I received this book as a 50th birthday present. It describes the positive side of 50+, the freedoms we can allow ourselves. I have found it to be true to my experience of 50+. I am giving it to a friend who is turning 50 as I know it will be a positive reinforcement to this great time of her life. Some of my favorite topics are: Laugh at Forgetfullness, Realize That Attitude is Everything, Speak My Truth, Trash Judgment, Meander and Savor Rather Than Scurry and Gulp,

Live Gently With Myself and Others, Sort and Cull What Mother Always Told Me, Celebrate the Differences Between Men and Women, Be My Own Authority, Age As Gracefully or Disgracefully As I Choose, Say No, Open the Door to Impermanence and Accept the Mantle of Wisdom. Do a friend who is turning 50 a favor and give them this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Gift For 50th Birthday
Review: Excellent read. I received this book as a 50th birthday present. It describes the positive side of 50+, the freedoms we can allow ourselves. I have found it to be true to my experience of 50+. I am giving it to a friend who is turning 50 as I know it will be a positive reinforcement to this great time of her life. Some of my favorite topics are: Laugh at Forgetfullness, Realize That Attitude is Everything, Speak My Truth, Trash Judgment, Meander and Savor Rather Than Scurry and Gulp,

Live Gently With Myself and Others, Sort and Cull What Mother Always Told Me, Celebrate the Differences Between Men and Women, Be My Own Authority, Age As Gracefully or Disgracefully As I Choose, Say No, Open the Door to Impermanence and Accept the Mantle of Wisdom. Do a friend who is turning 50 a favor and give them this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book is for women over 65, not age 50
Review: This is the bio on Sue Patton Thoele provided at the back of her book: "The author is a licensed psychotherapist living in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, Gene. She is a mom and grandmother as well as a woman's group facilitator, speaker, and baker of creative birthday cakes, who has recently become enthralled by swimming with free dolphins. Sue is the author of The Courage To Be Yourself, The Woman's Book of Courage, The Woman's Book of Confidence, The Woman's Book of Spirit, Autumn of the Spring Chicken, The Woman's Book of Soul, Heart Centered Marriage, and The Courage To Be Yourself Journal." Freedoms after 50 is a small (7" x 5.5"), 155-page hardback divided into 79 subject sections, each containing one to two short paragraphs of advice. The topics it covers are not particularly relevant to menopausal women, but they are fairly appropriate for some women in the age range of 65 and above. Examples of these topics include: dealing with forgetfulness; gracefully accepting the extensive wrinkling of old age; reconsidering having a spiritual life and tapping into the power of prayer now that you are approaching the end of your life; taking up creative hobbies such as writing poetry without worrying about how well you write; napping more than you did before retirement and sleeping as much or as little as you like at night; accepting that you need material security in your life; reveling in the fact that you no longer need to keep track of time; allowing yourself to spend lots of time enjoying your grandchildren. Mrs. Thoele has written this book based on her own journey through aging. Her comments may be encouraging and helpful to many women over 65, and, as such, I would highly recommend that she consider, in a future edition, changing the title to "Freedoms after 65." Most women at 50 are not yet at the stage in life that the concerns and interests addressed in this book are relevant to them. I would not recommend this book, then, as a 50th birthday present but it would be a decent choice as a 60th, 70th or 80th birthday present. If you do not open this book expecting anything particularly profound, you will not be disappointed. Its main benefit might be to catch your attention and point you in the direction of topics that you might want to do more extensive reading on. You may also unexpectedly find yourself taking Mrs. Thoele's advice to laugh more as you read her book, because many of its sections are weirdly, unintentionally funny. Prime example, the short essay, Roll with the Punches: "A dear friend and I were talking about the quiet joy we feel over our burgeoning ability to greet almost all circumstances with equanimity. Laughing, we decided that is probably the reason why our once-youthful, firm bottoms now look less like basketballs and more like the sand-filled bases of those clown punching balloons that were popular when our kids were young. Age is reforming our bodies to better roll with the punches!" Ahem. In case you might be looking for an inspirational book for women over 60 to give as a birthday gift that has a bit more "meat" in it than this one, I would highly recommend The Last Gift of Time, by Carolyn G. Heilbrun.

Rating:
Summary: This book is for women over 65, not age 50
Review: This is the bio on Sue Patton Thoele provided at the back of her book: "The author is a licensed psychotherapist living in Boulder, Colorado with her husband, Gene. She is a mom and grandmother as well as a woman's group facilitator, speaker, and baker of creative birthday cakes, who has recently become enthralled by swimming with free dolphins. Sue is the author of The Courage To Be Yourself, The Woman's Book of Courage, The Woman's Book of Confidence, The Woman's Book of Spirit, Autumn of the Spring Chicken, The Woman's Book of Soul, Heart Centered Marriage, and The Courage To Be Yourself Journal." Freedoms after 50 is a small (7" x 5.5"), 155-page hardback divided into 79 subject sections, each containing one to two short paragraphs of advice. The topics it covers are not particularly relevant to menopausal women, but they are fairly appropriate for some women in the age range of 65 and above. Examples of these topics include: dealing with forgetfulness; gracefully accepting the extensive wrinkling of old age; reconsidering having a spiritual life and tapping into the power of prayer now that you are approaching the end of your life; taking up creative hobbies such as writing poetry without worrying about how well you write; napping more than you did before retirement and sleeping as much or as little as you like at night; accepting that you need material security in your life; reveling in the fact that you no longer need to keep track of time; allowing yourself to spend lots of time enjoying your grandchildren. Mrs. Thoele has written this book based on her own journey through aging. Her comments may be encouraging and helpful to many women over 65, and, as such, I would highly recommend that she consider, in a future edition, changing the title to "Freedoms after 65." Most women at 50 are not yet at the stage in life that the concerns and interests addressed in this book are relevant to them. I would not recommend this book, then, as a 50th birthday present but it would be a decent choice as a 60th, 70th or 80th birthday present. If you do not open this book expecting anything particularly profound, you will not be disappointed. Its main benefit might be to catch your attention and point you in the direction of topics that you might want to do more extensive reading on. You may also unexpectedly find yourself taking Mrs. Thoele's advice to laugh more as you read her book, because many of its sections are weirdly, unintentionally funny. Prime example, the short essay, Roll with the Punches: "A dear friend and I were talking about the quiet joy we feel over our burgeoning ability to greet almost all circumstances with equanimity. Laughing, we decided that is probably the reason why our once-youthful, firm bottoms now look less like basketballs and more like the sand-filled bases of those clown punching balloons that were popular when our kids were young. Age is reforming our bodies to better roll with the punches!" Ahem. In case you might be looking for an inspirational book for women over 60 to give as a birthday gift that has a bit more "meat" in it than this one, I would highly recommend The Last Gift of Time, by Carolyn G. Heilbrun.