Professor George Vaillant of Harvard University is the author of this book, a follow up to his NY Times best seller Ageing Well.  I’ve listened to the audio version, which is well narrated and easy to listen to on long drives.

Professor Vaillant was in charge of the Grant Study of Harvard, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken.   The study offers insights for the new old age where our lives continue to evolve in our later years and often become more fulfilling than before.

The book provides case by case understanding of each phase of these Harvard men as they have aged, and how their views of life, and what factors contribute to their happiness and purpose during each phase.

Memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.

Available on Amazon