She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Retirement and Its Discontents: Why We Won't Stop Working, Even if We Can, and reported the following:
Page 99 of Retirement and Its Discontents focuses on Allison, a retired Olympic gymnast, who describes how alone she felt in the wake of her athletic career. At 25 years old, she was recovering from an addiction to pain killers and trying to figure out how to find work that would help her make ends meet and fill some of the void created by no longer being able to perform at an elite level. Though Allison is quite distinct from the other people interviewed in the book, this page sets the stage for the thinking about the deeply challenges faced by accomplished retirees as it illustrates the importance of personal identity in forging sustainable social norms around retirement.Visit Michelle Pannor Silver's website.
Retirement and Its Discontents is about how we confront the mismatch between idealized and actual retirement. Michelle Silver’s book follows doctors, CEOs, elite athletes, professors, and homemakers during their transition to retirement as they struggle to recalibrate their sense of purpose and self-worth. Drawing on in-depth interviews that capture a range of perceptions and common concerns about what it means to be retired, Silver emphasizes the significance of creating new retirement strategies that support social connectedness and personal fulfillment while countering ageist stereotypes about productivity and employment.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
