Rating: 
Summary: this is not meant for those who are already there
Review: As several of the reveiwers have noted, this book is very pleasant; it doesn't dwell upon death and suffering. That is why I believe that it will mean the most for those who are not really, really old. This book is intended for those of us who are facing old age in the future. It gives alternatives to the stereotypyed images of what we should expect. It gives reasons for what is going on. If these new images are already there in our vision,(thanks to Mr. Hillman) then what we experience "down the line" might be viewed by us later on in a different light. We just might be able to age more gracefully, or perhaps more happily.
Rating:
Summary: this is not meant for those who are already there
Review: As several of the reveiwers have noted, this book is very pleasant; it doesn't dwell upon death and suffering. That is why I believe that it will mean the most for those who are not really, really old. This book is intended for those of us who are facing old age in the future. It gives alternatives to the stereotypyed images of what we should expect. It gives reasons for what is going on. If these new images are already there in our vision,(thanks to Mr. Hillman) then what we experience "down the line" might be viewed by us later on in a different light. We just might be able to age more gracefully, or perhaps more happily.
Rating: 
Summary: He was much better before FAME and EDITORS
Review: At last! I don't have to fear old age anymore! Seriously, this book will help anyone come to terms with aging, and help all to understand the beauty, dignity, and honor of the elderly. Hillman's style is invigorating.
Rating:
Summary: No More Tears
Review: At last! I don't have to fear old age anymore! Seriously, this book will help anyone come to terms with aging, and help all to understand the beauty, dignity, and honor of the elderly. Hillman's style is invigorating.
Rating: 
Summary: Ho-hum
Review: Glad I got this book for free. I would have cursed myself for spending money on it. Haven't we heard all this someplace else before? There are far better books on the experience of aging. Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not a very interesting book
Review: Hillman once again underachieves with this one. He wrote some brilliant stuff in the 1970s -- but I guess that was when he was 30 years younger. His writing has deteriorated over the years, and his creativity seems to have gone limp. You have to wonder why the man -- who is, or was, brilliant -- continues to embarrass himself with the string of bland books he has turned out in recent years. An appearance on Oprah Winfrey helped put his previous book on the bestseller list, although the returns of his book to his publisher were allegedly very high and the "bestseller" status was a fluke created by orders from bookstores (like the one I manage). One of the other reviewers said "ho-hum" or something like that, and once again it is true. Maybe his next book should be channelled messages from Carl Jung or seomthing -- at least that would be more fun to read than this book. And maybe more inspiration, too, for members of my advanced age group.
Rating: 
Summary: Hillman finds eternity revealing itself as we age.
Review: I found the Hillman book to be both provocative and deeply optimistic. Here are ways to view the aging process as something other than a final step toward the grave. Here are wonderful paradigm shifts that nudge the reader to see eternity right here, on this side of the grave. Each chapter shows that all one has to do is open one's eyes to the potential of all the stages of life and keep an eye open to see what each has to offer. This is made most evident in the later and last stages of life. Hillman urges one to see heaven seeping in to life as we age and each chapter gently encouraged to enjoy those gifts now and not set it to something that will materialize only after death. Hillman's style of writing is close tho that of Joseph Campbell in its breath of imagination and arch of line. There are parts that can only be described as poetry in prose. I have recommended this book to many of my friends who are, as I, situated between aging parents and raising children here at home.
Rating:
Summary: Great ideas, but....
Review: I purchased Force of Character because a series of things happened that indicated to me that this was something I should do. I heard two radio interviews with Hillman within a short time and found his ideas resonated and were presented very accessibly; and my mother in law, who is having a lot of trouble adjusting to many aspects of aging, was visiting. Great, I thought. This is stuff I need to explore.Having read the book, I still find the ideas compelling and important, but my hopes of being able to give it to my mother in law to gently urge her to appreciate where she is were dashed by the self indulgence and turbidity of the writing. I'm glad I read the book, I appreciate the new outlook on aging it's helped me move toward, I'm sure it will figure in many conversations with friends. But I wish it had been written with more grace.
Rating:
Summary: He was much better before FAME and EDITORS
Review: I studied the early writings of Mr. Hillman, as a student in Vermont. He was once a real genius, original and gutsy if more incomprehensible. Then, some editor got him to "make sense" And in the Soul's Code, I suppose he did, in a pablum-ish way. But this book? I couldn't make nor head nor tails of its structure or meaning. Where o where did the gods put this man's genius? Or rather, what price was he willing to take to his great writing to render this mess? Well, because he is a great author in the past, i cannot give him one star. But for anyone else, i'd give this none.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this
Review: I thought about aging in a whole other way after reading this book---and as someone in their fifties, the subject has been much on my mind. James Hillman treats the wonders of old age and aging as reverentially as we always have that of teens and those in their twenties. I hope to maintain my sense of discovery for a long time and this book helped me realize I can and will.
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