Aging with Wisdom: book and resource List

Aging with Wisdom Resource List

The following book & resource list is designed to help us live well and age gracefully. Within the books, poems, and reflections is practical advice, philosophical wisdom, and threads of transcendence.

Health

• Peter Attia, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, Rethinking Medicine to Live Better Longer (Harmony Books, 2023)

Meaning

• Arthur Brooks, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (New York; Penguin, 2021) 
• David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (New York; Random House, 2019)
• Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (New York; Simon and Shuster, 2016) 
• Eger, Eva, The Choice and The Gift (New York; Simon and Shuster, 2017 and 2020)
• Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy (New York: Touchstone, many printings) 
• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: Touchstone, 1980) 
• Robert Grudin, The Grace of Great Things: Creativity and Innovation (New York: Ticnor, 1990) 
• Margaret Somerville, The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit(Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2006), 2018 and 2022)
• Robert Spitzer, The Spirit of Leadership. Finding True Happiness: Satisfying our Restless Hearts. Souls Upward Yearning: Clues to our Transcendent Nature from Experience and Reason. God so loved the World: Clues to our Transcendent Destiny from the Revelation of Jesus. Light Shines in the Darkness: Transforming Suffering through Faith (Ignatius Press, 2015, 2015, 2016, 2017)

Philosophy

• E.F. Schumacher, A Guide for the Perplexed
  (New York: Harper & Row, 1978)
• Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book
  (New York: Macmillan, 2000)
• Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man Is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion
  (New York: The Noonday Press, 21st printing, 1997)

Essays

• Rachel Naomi Remen, My Grandfather's Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging(New York: Riverhead Books, 2000)
• Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
  (New York: Bantam Books, 1992)

Short Stories/ Novels with Wisdom

• Mark Helprin, The Pacific and Other Stories
  (New York: Penguin Press, 2004)
• Mark Helprin, A Soldier of the Great War
  (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994)
• Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
  (New York: Vintage, 1992)
• Ivin Doig, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Whistling Season, all Montana novels  (Simon and Shuster)

Poetry

• Wendall Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry
  (Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1998).
• Mary Oliver, Red Bird
  (Boston: Beacon Press, 2008)
• Mary Oliver, Thirst
  (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006)

Death and Dying: Life and Living

• Ira Byock, The Four Things That Matter Most: A Book About Living
  (Simon and Schuster, 2004)
• Atul Gawande, Being Mortal; Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014)
• Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
  (Hyperion, 2008.) Also found on You Tube: Google Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture.
• Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
  (New York: Random House, 2002)
• Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley, Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying (Simon and Shuster, 2012)

Wisdom Tradition Quotes and Prayers from around the world:  From authors as diverse as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Rumi, these quotes provide inspiration and sustenance.  

Words of Wisdom from Small Children, too, can be a comfort.