Time for New Thinking for the Age of Longevity

The bleak narrative about aging is bogus, this author says

Rosalind Barnett, co-author of the new book The Age of Longevity, has a bone to pick — with pretty much all of us.

She writes that “the bleak mainstream narrative about aging, centering on decay, decline, burden and costs, is becoming increasingly less true” but “it has not yet been replaced by a story that reflects present reality.”

Barnett is hoping her new book (and articles like this one) will help correct the record about people in what she calls “late adulthood” — age 55 to 80. I hope so, too. I recently interviewed her about, as the book’s subtitle says, “reimagining tomorrow for our new long lives.”

When you’re older, you have a lot of life experience and you’re not afraid of failing as much.

— Rosalind Barnett, co-author 'The Age of Longevity'

Since Barnett — a senior scientist at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University — is a leading researcher on workplace issues and family life, we talked a lot about the implications of today’s longer lives for employers and for workers in their 50s and 60s. Click here to continue reading.