60+: Planning It, Living It, Loving It

Old stereotypes about aging--""Our value to others, as well as our own self-esteem, have eroded away""--countered with old platitudes about seeking new experiences, cultivating ""the habit of laughter,"" and not much more. Clinical psychologist Fromme (The Book for Normal Neurotics, etc.) even seems unaware, in talking-up dating and remarriage, of the huge gender imbalance among the elderly. On getting out of a rut, he makes a few valid points. ""Repetition makes you dependent on your choices and finicky about them, while at the same time you grow less tolerant about alternatives."" ""Even someone who retires has things to do. The trick is to find out how to enjoy even routine tasks."" That little message is repeatedly delivered, in separate little chapters, with no particular discrimination: i.e., ""a change of residence should involve a change of life-style."" Other little (2-3 pp.) chapters say, vaguely, that sex can be better after 60 or suggest, loosely, how to grandparent: there's a stab in just about every direction. But from ""living with pain"" to ""beating the blahs,"" the remedy is ""do something different"" and find something to laugh about. Today's readers can do much, much better--starting with Brecher et al., above.