Overview
In this book, an award-winning journalist tells the story of people devising innovative ways to live as they approach retirement, options that ensure they are surrounded by a circle of friends, family and neighbours. Based on visits and interviews at many communities around the country, Beth Baker weaves a rich tapestry of grassroots alternatives, some of them surprisingly affordable: an affordable mobile home cooperative in small-town Oregon a senior artists colony in Los Angeles neighbours helping neighbours in ""Villages"" or ""naturally occurring retirement communities"" intentional cohousing communities best friends moving in together multigenerational families that balance togetherness and privacy niche communities including such diverse groups as retired postal workers, gays and lesbians and Zen Buddhists. Drawing on new research showing the importance of social support to healthy ageing and the risks associated with loneliness and isolation, the author encourages the reader to plan for a future with strong connections. Baker explores whether individuals in declining health can really stay rooted in their communities through the end of life and concludes by examining the challenge of expanding the home-care workforce and the potential of new technologies like webcams and assistive robots. This book is the recipient of the annual Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize for the best project in the area of medicine.
Full Product Details
Author: Beth Baker
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Imprint: Vanderbilt University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 22.60cm
Weight: 0.421kg
ISBN: 9780826519887
ISBN 10: 0826519881
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 05 May 2014
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
The audience for this must-read book is boomers--and everyone else. -- Library Journal
Beth Baker courageously and empathetically asks the question many Baby Boomers avoid: How will we make it through our aging years with dignity, independence and pleasure? The answers she receives from folks around the US, straight and LGBT, reassure us that there are already promising paths being carved. --Michele Kort, Senior Editor, Ms. Magazine
Author Information
Beth Baker, a long-time freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, AARP Bulletin, Washingtonian and Ms. Magazine, is the features editor of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Baker is the author of Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Home, also published by Vanderbilt University Press. She and her husband live in a close-knit community in Takoma Park, Maryland.
