Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every

Much needed book. It emphasizes that to age well, you must plan well.

Poorly written and clinical. It is a boring book about the baby boomers who had it all ( I am a Gen Xer) and who just want to extend the feelings of privilege and delude themselves that old age doesn't suck. I have many friends who are older and yes there are good things about aging, but many things about aging really do suck. I am going to get there soon and wanted an inspiring book. This was NOT it.

love it!

This book is more about extended middle age rather than old age.It's not outstanding, but it gets a 3 because it is by the head of AARP, and it's useful to know what someone like this is thinking.Are "we" are just jumping on the tech-speak bandwagon of "disrupting" old age, rather than carrying out the traditional task of elders-- ensuing that strong, useful social institutions will be transmitted to the next generation?The initial chapters give examples of people who have had relatively straightforward life paths, who are moving towards scaling back from high-pressure jobs towards more involvement in charitable and family activities. And by the way, life expectancy has actually dropped for white women, but the author glosses over this. The chipper tone in the initial chapters, using the term "we" to describe general social trends, can be a bit much.Readers who have suffered life setbacks may wish to skip to the chapter about older workers. This gives some examples of corporations which have discovered that their needs coincide with the needs of workers who are experienced, but do not have endless 20-something energy. Perhaps social pressure to consider age as a component of diversity could influence employers to hire more older workers. But what of the people who are struggling with health and socio-economic difficulties after 40, and can't really compete with their counterpart ten years younger? How do we bring them into the mix, and keep them working at a living wage?The "thousand dollar tax credit" for low income savers might give them ... $35-45K plus interest at retirement? Hopefully enough to buy a trailer. Guess it would be a start; cheaper and easier to implement than an actual housing program involving permanent structures.It is useful to understand the perspective on aging as viewed from the position of someone heading of AARP. The challenges of old age are mostly covered in the sections about arranging for appropriate health care. If you are a perky person given to organizing million dollar public private partnership grants for Habitat for Humanity senior housing, this book is for you! Given the current climate in Congress, where many legislators in the majority believe all social problems should be handled by families and the church, the chipper, pro-private sector tone of this book may be an unfortunate (though annoying) necessity.The overall thrust of this book, of viewing older people as contributors instead of liabilities, is very welcome. Less certain about that chipper tone. Apparently, if you are someone who must keep working "out of financial necessity," then it's just on you to take better care of your health, and grin and bear it.If you buy this book, you might want to sit down with your friends after reading it, and have your book group discuss it. Is "It's all up to you, to volunteerism, and to the private sector" really the way you think our country should care for the old? Sure, it's great to counter age discrimination and encourage everyone to remain healthy, vital people who contribute to society. But older workers who have worn out their bodies through physically demanding labor will not be very enthusiastic at the idea that they should continue volunteering, or showing up for work at whatever pay they can still get. (WalMart greeter comes to mind, alas.)

I thought this book was rather boring and also somewhat repetitive. It's not going to be anywhere near giving anyone new answers nor anything to ponder and think about. What I mean is this.....if you haven't come to the much of the same conclusions as the author than you'd be living under a rock. Somewhat written with rose colored glasses by an author who has truly been blessed and somewhat lucky in life. Not that she isn't a qualified, knowledgeable person in her field. However, this book misses those that are struggling (most 'older' people...) and only just very slightly mentions those less fortunate. Before we strive to prove that old age doesn't necessarily mean a number, we need to help those individuals that are struggling financially....what was supposed to take care of people with the Social Security System has certainly put many between a rock and a hardstone. So much to say about this book but, in a nutshell it's not worth the read.