Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life » (1ST QUILL)

Gene D. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., is Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, where he holds the positions of Professor of Health Care Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry. He is founding director of the Washington, D.C., Center on Aging and past president of the Gerontological Society of America. He has appeared on Nightline, The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and the CBS Nightly News, and has appeared in a series of public service messages on aging with George Burns and Steve Allen. He invented an intergenerational board game (sort of a cross between chess and Scrabble) that was selected by an international art jury for a three-year museum tour.

For thousands of years men and women have risked their lives and spent their fortunes in a futile quest for eternal youth. In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned psychiatrist and researcher Gene D. Cohen takes us to the wellspring of genuine human vitality, the unique creative power generated by age and experience, and shows us how to tap this inner source to enrich, even transform our lives through middle age and beyond. A pioneering physician and respected international authority on aging and creativity, Dr. Cohen weaves history, scientific research, inspiring true-life stories, and his own fresh insights to journey into the previously uncharted territory of human potential in the "second half" of life—-THE CREATIVE AGE.

The over-thirty crowd was once subject to ridicule by younger people, and anyone past age fifty was definitely "over the hill." But in a single generation, the view of life after fifty has changed dramatically. Today society is shaped by unprecedented growth in the number of people over fifty, shifting patterns of opportunity and responsibility at work and at home, and advances in healthcare that offer the promise of longer and more active lives. In this fascinating, life-affirming book, Dr. Cohen debunks harmful myths about aging and illuminates the biological and emotional foundations of creative thought and expression. He offers compelling evidence that the unique combination of age, experience, and creativity can produce exciting inner growth and infinite potential for anyone.

Publishers Weekly

As the baby-boom generation swells the ranks of the American middle-aged, life expectancy has increased 50% since 1900, older people are becoming more physically and mentally active than ever before and diseases are more easily preventable, detectable and treatable. A doctor specializing in gerontology for 30 years, Cohen focuses on creativity, which he stresses is "not just for geniuses" but holds potential for everyone at every age. With a wink toward Einstein, Cohen uses the formula "C=me2" (creativity equals a mass of knowledge plus the interaction of inner and outer experience) to describe his theory of lifelong creativity, which may be manifested both privately ("creativity with a little c") and publicly ("big C"). Cohen identifies four developmental phases in mid- and later life--reevaluation, liberation, summing-up and encore--that provide opportunities for creativity to blossom. He cites the latest scientific research, which disproves dated views of inevitably deteriorating brain function, points out the advantages of experience and the willingness to experiment that come with age, and notes that the adversity and loss that often crop up later in life actually encourage creativity by forcing change. With sidebars noting the accomplishments of many people well past midlife, excellent exercises for igniting creativity and thorough appendices, Cohen provides a wealth of information and a fresh, timely perspective on aging. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|