<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: Don't buy this one, check it out of the library and read Chapter 6, because it is the ONLY chapter that talks about what the title promises: How Baby Boomers WILL Revolutionize and Transform America. Most of the book is a dull recitation of facts about how some people in our parents' generation found meaning by becoming foster grandparents (holding dying babies mentoring pregnant teens, or working at the local McDonalds.)Sorry, but this is a depressing book that does not speak to me as a child-free adult who has spent her life working outside the home. There are a few interesting tidbits, such as how retirement communities such as Sun City were the genesis of racially segregated, gated communities where rich people pride themselves on avoiding taxes.
Rating: 
Summary: Challenging the accepted view of what retirement is about
Review: I hope Freedman is right, and that we are on the brink of a major shift in how seniors utilize their time. Early retirement to the golf course is attractive to many after a long time in the workplace, and golf deserves its reputation as one of the most challenging games ever invented. But in the end, it's still just a game. Should grown men and women spend the final 20-40 years of their lives playing games? Prime Time offers a wide range of examples of seniors who are taking another, more fulfilling path. They are giving back to their communities in various ways, from working in hospitals as Foster Grandparents, to working in schools as members of the new Experience Corps, to founding and operating health clinics. They are trading a later life of leisure for a later life of impact, and end up happier and healthier in the bargain.
Rating:
Summary: Prime Time
Review: Marc Freedman has compellingly described one of America's major challenges of the 21st Century -how to reorder our thinking about aging and how to restructure our institutions and ways so as to enable us to lead fulfilling lives, enriching both our communities and ourselves. His scholarly research and fascinating personal stories lead the reader to embrace his important conclusions.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Read
Review: Marc Freedman's book communicates a forward thinking idea that is the next step in social development. Similar to how childhood was reinvented as a valid life stage in the nineteenth century and adolescence in the twentieth century, the new life stage of older retired adults represents the potential for dramatic civic renewal in our time. Those who believe Marc Freedman is advocating for further work after retirement are sorely mistaken and have missed the basic founding premise for his book. He is by no means attempting to guilt trip retirees out of taking a deserved break and rejuvenating themselves with plenty of golf and travel. Marc Freedman points out that the key is to achieve a better balance of work across generations. Our society manages to skew work into a massive time commitment, monopolizing our entire lives for the span of our careers and leaving time for nothing else. People naturally become either absolutely addicted or repelled by the idea of further service. He emphasizes that most people do need to get an R&R fix after working hard for decades but that after a certain amount of relaxation, many older people testify to needing deeper purpose and something to commit to in their retired lives. This empty place in their lives may be best filled through meaningful civic service, perhaps in areas that they had never considered before like mentoring school children or by continuing their lifelong career paths such as the doctors at the Samaritan House Clinic. Freedman advocates for a revolution of society's attitudes towards older people in order to give them the option of remaining active and contributing to society or not. His heartening message of potential social renewal seeks to "expand opportunities and option, not obligations" and to show what a massive potential resource we have at hand. I found especially inspiring the idea of "the aging of America as an impending civic renaissance." The book itself is extremely well written, and even if you do not agree with its message, it is worth reading for the first person narratives of older Americans. These are very inspiring and interesting because many of the perspectives are ones that I would never have encountered otherwise and that give me a greater hopefulness for my own ability to continue to affect change in old age.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Read
Review: Marc Freedman's book communicates a forward thinking idea that is the next step in social development. Similar to how childhood was reinvented as a valid life stage in the nineteenth century and adolescence in the twentieth century, the new life stage of older retired adults represents the potential for dramatic civic renewal in our time. Those who believe Marc Freedman is advocating for further work after retirement are sorely mistaken and have missed the basic founding premise for his book. He is by no means attempting to guilt trip retirees out of taking a deserved break and rejuvenating themselves with plenty of golf and travel. Marc Freedman points out that the key is to achieve a better balance of work across generations. Our society manages to skew work into a massive time commitment, monopolizing our entire lives for the span of our careers and leaving time for nothing else. People naturally become either absolutely addicted or repelled by the idea of further service. He emphasizes that most people do need to get an R&R fix after working hard for decades but that after a certain amount of relaxation, many older people testify to needing deeper purpose and something to commit to in their retired lives. This empty place in their lives may be best filled through meaningful civic service, perhaps in areas that they had never considered before like mentoring school children or by continuing their lifelong career paths such as the doctors at the Samaritan House Clinic. Freedman advocates for a revolution of society's attitudes towards older people in order to give them the option of remaining active and contributing to society or not. His heartening message of potential social renewal seeks to "expand opportunities and option, not obligations" and to show what a massive potential resource we have at hand. I found especially inspiring the idea of "the aging of America as an impending civic renaissance." The book itself is extremely well written, and even if you do not agree with its message, it is worth reading for the first person narratives of older Americans. These are very inspiring and interesting because many of the perspectives are ones that I would never have encountered otherwise and that give me a greater hopefulness for my own ability to continue to affect change in old age.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely first-rate job!
Review: Marc not only researches and writes well, his promising and timely message couldn't be better expressed than in Prime Time. In researching my second edition of How to Create Your Own Super Second Life, I've plowed through everything new in the second-life, retirement, future planning, and "giving worth to future years" field and this is the best book I've found so far. It's a shame I'm limited to five stars. Gordon Burgett
Rating: 
Summary: Too depressing for me to finish
Review: The best of "Prime Time" in my opinion is in the absoulutely fantastic chapter called "A Year-Round Vacation," which brilliantly and entertainingly documents the life and accomplishments of Del Webb, the founder of the Sun Cities. The chapter brings to life the atmosphere of the late '50's relative to retirement, and traces the marketing concept that brings the "golden age" into reality for those who move to Sun City and others that follow. But it is as if the book drops off a cliff after that chapter, with the rest of it being an unconvincing, detail-laden, name-dropping, dull read that makes you wonder where all the fun went. Obviously, the author comes into the effort with heavy social-engineering baggage. His thesis appears to be that in your old age pouring one's heart and sole back into humanity, especially the youth, is infinitely better that chasing pleasurable pursuits as a full-time endeavor. I'm not convinced, and I don't like it when the author in proclaiming his thesis uses the pronoun "we" so forcefully. For example, "We must embark on a major marketing effort communicating that the aging of America is a great opportunity for individuals and society, a massive call to action that replaces the long-standing message that older adults are superfuluous." Can't you just see the active adults on their way to a concert, playing golf or tennis, or otherwise enjoying their day suddenly looking over and saying, "What's with the 'we' stuff, buddy? Do we get a vote, or are you making all the decisions for us?" Without the chapter on Del Webb, the book is a good read only for those whose vision is to save the world through the retired and elderly, with lots of money flowing into fat goverment-sponsored programs to make it "work." Freedman appears to be one of the new breed of prophets who are more than willing to give visionary direction to those nearing or in retirement, whether they want it or not. It's as if the graying of America is the new parade in town, and what could be better than to get in front of it before anyone else does? With all that senseless fun they are having, surely they will want to follow the new leader into the more meaningful direction of dedicated public service.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: There are 3 books every older person should read and ponder. Marc Freedman's book Prime Time is one of them (The other titles are Another Country and Age-ing to Sage-ing). Like the other authors, Freedman has done his homework and presents a positive alternative to seniors on golf courses. His recounting of the evolution of our changing attitudes towards elders is worth the book alone. But more than anything else, he portrays a picture of engaged, older citizens who make a difference to their community. This is a far better picture than the one the media portrays of "greedy geezers" or "selfish bluehairs". Marc Freedman's call for investing in creating opportunities for senior citizen service is not only altruistic, it is essential if we are ever to weave together the fabric of our bickering populations. Those who gave a negative view of this book quite frankly shocked me. Sadly they promote a very selfish portrait of older Americans at a time when we can least afford it. (Or they simply are poor readers with a heavy, negative agenda) Buy this book, you will not be disappointed! It is easily worth 6 stars. I hope someday to meet Mr. Freedman and personally thank him for advocating for a meaningful role for older citizens.
<< 1 >>
| 
