COMING INTO OUR OWN

How do adults grow? Gerzon looks at the enduring issues of adult life—love, work, aging, global responsibility—in the same measured tones that characterized his previous books (A Choice of Heroes, 1982, etc.), each of which was a sort of generational totem. This new work, while breaking little new ground, again gathers together much that is in the air (and in print) and organizes these ideas into a coherent, deeply rooted discussion. Essentially, Gerzon sees the second half of adult life not as a series of set stages but as an ongoing quest, often begun in denial and confusion, related to the unfinished business of adolescence, focused on a need for wholeness rather than excellence. This is a time for shedding a self that no longer fits, when questions of faith arise anew and resolution depends on ``whether we live out our beliefs with an open heart.'' Drawing on sources from Einstein to Bonnie Raitt, Esalen founder Michael Murphy to In Midlife author Murray Stein, Gerzon demonstrates that crises, though common, are not predictable, and includes numerous examples of personal experiences—his own and those of others. This series of primarily but not exclusively middle-class tableaux avoids the simplifications and pep-rally cadences of many midlife books and offers instead a unified and mature perspective. ``To live gracefully is the Holy Grail we all seek,'' Gerzon concludes—and his one-world, multigenerational, ``Follow your bliss'' prescriptions seem a sure tonic for the times.