Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging

by Dr. Alan D. Castel

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Author: Dr. Alan D. Castel

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0190279982
ISBN 13: 978-0190279981

Age is an important number, but it can also be deceiving. After 40, most people say they feel younger than their years, some lie about their age, and many attempt to hide the signs of growing old.

Better with Age addresses the many myths and paradoxes about the aging process. Although most people think of their later years in terms of decline, they can be one of the best times in life. This book presents the latest scientific research about the psychology of aging, coupled with insights from those who have succeeded in doing it well, such as Maya Angelou, Bob Newhart, Jared Diamond, John Glenn, and John Wooden.

We are all aging, and many people are concerned about what to expect with advancing years. Retirement, happiness, and brain health are some of the many topics covered in this book. Better with Age shows what we can do now, at any stage in life, to make sure we enjoy old age.

Review

"A highly readable, engaging and worthwhile book." -- Paradigm Explorer

"This author's text promotes a positive approach toward aging, buttressed by recent research and interviews with famous older Americans ... Recommended." -- C. J. Jones, CHOICE

"There is no single formula to successful aging, but UCLA psychology professor Alan D. Castel provides a comprehensive and practical guide for shaping a life that is joyful, productive, healthy and meaningful. He debunks negative myths and self-defeating mind-sets about aging ... He reviews research studies that suggest that many people are happiest between the ages of 50 and 70 - sense of contentment resulting from some combination of a lessened financial burden due to an emptied nest, the opportunity to do something new and different in retirement, and a sense of gratitude for being able to look back on the joys and accomplishments of a lifetime. He provides compelling evidence that staying active physically helps us remain sharp mentally. Perhaps his most important advice is that you're never too young to develop habits that can help sustain healthy aging in the future. --Wall Street Journal

"Reading Better with Age, you will regret not having read it at an earlier age. Professor Castel combines the wisdom of remarkable people he interviewed, with the latest research findings, to provide a masterful guide to become better with age."

--Moshe F. Rubinstein, Professor at UCLA

"Alan Castel, a leading thinker in aging research, has crafted a readable, engaging, and informative book that offers a much-needed portrayal of successful aging. He overturns long-standing negative views of aging with empirical evidence and provides a more even-handed account of aging at this point in history. Most importantly, Castel inspires readers -- young and old -- to pursue deep satisfying lives at advanced ages."

-- Laura L. Carstensen, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the
Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy as well as Director, Stanford Center on Longevity

"This great book is about a subject that affects everyone of us. It's full of practical suggestions. It's clearly written: unforgettable examples, no jargon. I guarantee that you will find it fascinating, and that it will change your life."

-- Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA, is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel

"Alan Castel's informed and informative writing style translates the latest science into an accessible inspiration for successful aging. For everyone who strives to live better longer and gain the insights of the who's who of successful agers, Better with Age is a must-read."

--Gary Small, MD, Parlow-Solomon Professor on Aging, Director, UCLA Longevity Center and co-author of 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain

"If you think a book about aging can't be a fun and engrossing read - think again. Alan Castel's Better with Age blends cutting-edge research with personal accounts from well-known Americans to create a roadmap for the later years. This engaging and inspirational book should be read by everyone who wants to know how to ensure a happy and healthy old age."

-- Karl Pillemer, Professor of Human Development, Cornell University and author of 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans

"Better with Age is a wonderful book, both highly informative and consistently entertaining. Alan Castel seamlessly combines cutting edge research and fascinating interviews to challenge longstanding myths about getting old and replace them with valuable insights into the secrets of successful aging."

-- Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers

"This evocative, compelling, insightful, thought provoking, readable, comprehensively researched book is a stunning celebration of not just aging but of all of life. As presented: age is no better or worse than youth, the 80's or 90's no better or worse than the 20's or 30's. Age is one of the phases of life, but like all phases, it must be mindfully lived differently. This symphony of life has been composed from a massive quantity of disciplined studies and powerfully expressive scenarios from real lives such that the reader can design custom tailored optimum phases for themselves. If only enough people would engage this thinking, the trajectory of the human species would be elevated into a new realm." --Story Musgrave, loving daddy to seven children, ages, 57 to 11, grand-daddy to many, student of life, professor, pilot, trauma surgeon, astronaut on six flights

About the Author

Alan D. Castel is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on how cognition changes with age and how people selectively remember important events. His work has been supported by the National Institute on Aging and has been featured in The New York Times and Time Magazine. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2004, completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, and has been a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at UCLA since 2006.

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Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging