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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent look at senior citzenship
Review: As an aging baby boomer with a spouse talking retirement, I began reading this self-help book with the thought of "not me" because I have many pages to read before I sleep. Besides, who wants to read about another fiscal planning seminar for retirees. Still I reluctantly began thinking twenty-five pages not fifty, but quickly was hooked as I realized that author Sallirae Henderson was talking to my peers and me more so than senior citizens about our feelings. The value of such a book is that it helps the individual spiritually and emotionally prepare for the end of middle age and the beginning of senior citizenship. This book focuses on personal growth and the meaning of life and death. This motivating non-fiction booK reminds me of Steelie Dan's "Hey Nineteen". The years may have gone by, but we can still make tonight and all our remaining years a wonderful thing by not losing sight that everyone at anytime or age has something to give to all of us. With that message and other uplifting thoughts, Ms. Henderson's non-fiction book is worth the time of all us baby boomers to learn and prepare for hopefully a healthy extended future.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at senior citzenship
Review: As an aging baby boomer with a spouse talking retirement, I began reading this self-help book with the thought of "not me" because I have many pages to read before I sleep. Besides, who wants to read about another fiscal planning seminar for retirees. Still I reluctantly began thinking twenty-five pages not fifty, but quickly was hooked as I realized that author Sallirae Henderson was talking to my peers and me more so than senior citizens about our feelings. The value of such a book is that it helps the individual spiritually and emotionally prepare for the end of middle age and the beginning of senior citizenship. This book focuses on personal growth and the meaning of life and death. This motivating non-fiction booK reminds me of Steelie Dan's "Hey Nineteen". The years may have gone by, but we can still make tonight and all our remaining years a wonderful thing by not losing sight that everyone at anytime or age has something to give to all of us. With that message and other uplifting thoughts, Ms. Henderson's non-fiction book is worth the time of all us baby boomers to learn and prepare for hopefully a healthy extended future.
Rating:
Summary: It is what it seems...
Review: I find what Thomas J. Henry, MD, PSy.D. wrote about this book absolutely out of line -- it is vindictive, mean-spirited, vengeful, personal and along the lines of character assasination. How many of the leading lights of Psychology, those who wrote the most seminal works did not struggle with their dark side or lead tangled lives? That is not the issue here. The issue here is whether this book is helpful for those who are dealing with spiritual issues at middle age and on. For someone with a "counseling" degree, Dr. Henry comes across as having little to no empathy and showing very little professional etiquette. I have used Sallirae's book with adult classes at Unitarian Universalist circles and find it immensely helpful. As a tool for group exploration of late life spiritual issues it is unequaled in the market. Whether the author is a pristine, ideal person or not is irrelevant to the way this book can be a blessing in people's lives. I strongly recommend the book for those who want to explore very valid issues in middle to late life.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Complete
Review: I was very touched by this book for more than one reason. I am 63 years old, a retired physician, and had a heart attack and cardiac bypass surgery three years ago. The issues I personally have struggled with for many years are discussed in depth, with sensitivity, and accuracy. The style and language make it easy to read and understand. The author discusses emotional and spiritual issues but always keeps the reader feeling grounded. No area is left out from all that we face at this stage of our life. My favorite chapter is "Evolving Toward True North", a metaphor for the state of completion we can attain before we die. I highly recommend this book to any person caring to delve beyond the superficialities of our daily consumer- oriented and materialistic environment. Munir J. Katul MD
Rating:
Summary: Relections on A Life Complete
Review: Like most people I lead a busy life and buy many books thatI glance at and then put on the shelf to read later. "A Life Complete" was not one of those books. As a minister and pastoral counselor I spend a lot of my professional life working with people who are aging, caring for the aging and struggling with what it means to be spiritual. When I began to read this book I just had to finish it. Sallirae has wonderfully blended some very deep thinking and reflection with her own personal experiences and has presented in a style that is very readable. There is no heavy technical psychological or theological language - she does not waste our time trying to impress us with her knowledge of complicated words but writes in a style that is clear and understandable, whilst at the same time she does not talk down to us. I also loved how she very gently but firmly slipped in some of her political belief,demonstrating in her writing how spirituality is grounded in how we live our lives and our beliefs. As a pastoral counselor I rarely recommend books to clients as they tend to be either too complicated in language or they oversimplify complicated issues. This book I have recommended to many people as Sallirae writes as one of the people for the people. On a personal level both my wife and I have fathers who are in various stages of Alzheimer's Disease and have tried to read a number of books on the subject. None of them were as helpful as the chapter Sallirae devoted to this topic. Personally I find stories about how other people cope far more helpful than a lot of theory, and was greatly helped by her comment "To the unpracticed eye, the person with AD has become a 'what' rather than a 'who'". My father is still a "who" and I am grateful for the stories that remind me that I am still learning from him, and he is teaching me far more about the art of listening - carefully and patiently. Spirituality as Sallirae puts it is "a minefield" but she approaches it gently, whilst at the same time exposing a few of the mines (beliefs) that are held to by the narrowly religious - you will have to read the book to see what I am referring to. This is a book of hope - buy it, read it, share it with others and live what she suggests and maybe we will all have a more complete life.
Rating:
Summary: must read for mid-lifers
Review: Sallirae Henderson has written a beautiful, wise, and compassionate guide to becoming a complete person before it is too late.
Rating: 
Summary: Good thoughts, but thin.
Review: Superb, profound and a wake-up call for those of us at mid-life who echo the Peggy Lee refrain, "Is That All There Is?" This book deserve a six on a one-to-five scale. Henderson makes a powerful case that our life and gropwth in elder years will be shaped in large part by the habits we develop in our earlier years. No paint by numbers how-to book, she nevertheless offers insights on seeing old age as a phase of life, not just the end of life. Thought-provoking in a painful yet healthy way.
Rating:
Summary: The Search for a Golden Twilight ....
Review: Superb, profound and a wake-up call for those of us at mid-life who echo the Peggy Lee refrain, "Is That All There Is?" This book deserve a six on a one-to-five scale. Henderson makes a powerful case that our life and gropwth in elder years will be shaped in large part by the habits we develop in our earlier years. No paint by numbers how-to book, she nevertheless offers insights on seeing old age as a phase of life, not just the end of life. Thought-provoking in a painful yet healthy way.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Midlife Book
Review: This book gave practical ideas to be used to strive for a completed life, a life of fulfillment in our elder years. I found many ideas to begin implimenting now, such as learning to be my own best friend and learning to receive graciously from others.
Sallirae gives many life examples, some taken from her experiences counselling elders in a nursing home environment.
This book should be read by mid-lifers. It provokes much thought about how we want to be at the end of our lives.
Rating:
Summary: Good thoughts, but thin.
Review: While containing good thoughts and sentiments, this book is little more than facile observations, short anecdotes and lessons learned from the author's own narrow life. Her writing style is simple, bland and uninteresting. As a minister, chaplin and counselor with a masters degree and many years of experience, I expected more adroit observations and solid, far reaching conclusions on what is an important and provocative subject.
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