Second Wind: Navigating the Passage to a Slower, Deeper, and More Connected Life

Summarizing Dr. Bill Thomas's ambitious new book, "Second Wind," is challenging even though it is not complicated to read. Thomas writes using accessible language, stories and anecdotes with almost every page conveying interesting, creative insights. The reviewing difficulty lies in the book's breadth and depth. This treatise is an amalgamation of history, science, social commentary, environmentalism, medicine, generational sociology, economics, public policies, gerontology, politics, and demography.The seedtime for Boomer aging began in the generation's formative years. Early in the book, Thomas divides the 76-million-member generation into three subcultures that became manifest during a coming-of-age transition from adolescence to adulthood."Hippies" represented the smallest segment of the generation--less than 0.02 percent according to the author--but had the most impact on the counterculture celebrated during the 1960s and 1970s through art, literature, theater, music, and popular culture. This was an unexpected subculture oriented toward postponing full maturation typical of older generations, a discordant stage between childhood and adulthood."Activists" embraced the possibilities of invention and entrepreneurialism while "suspended between fervent idealism and a genuine grown-up taste for opportunity and success." To personify this segment, one might think of Howard Schultz, the founder and reigning CEO of Starbucks, who realized colossal business success by popularizing gourmet coffee shops while holding onto idealistic values for productive social and economic changes."Squares" dominated a subculture that embraced conservative ideologies and free-market capitalism, in one sense a reaction to the Hippie cultural hegemony. To analyze this segment, Thomas examines the vast influence of author Stephen Covey and his mega-bestseller, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."In his critique, Thomas is hardly generous about Covey's views:"The Seven Habits is in fact that most frightening and dangerous species of writing, a hermetically sealed system of thought whose ultimate authority depends solely on the author's personal beliefs, faith, and feelings, while at the same time posing as an impartial moral arbiter for society as a whole."Covey's writing and disproportionate influence on cultural values served to "... redefine the sources of success away from the ideals of shared sacrifice and cooperation and toward a new and terribly impoverished concept of individual effectiveness."Thomas declares that the Squares triumphed over the other subcultures. Squares harshly criticized those who placed shared actions and community above individual initiative and the primacy of free-market capitalism, "a contemptuous dismissal of the moral and practical value of collective action in pursuit of a common good."Squares not only became an industrious segment of the generation, partially represented by those who started and built companies that today dominate the business landscape, they fostered a cultural narrative that was youth-focused and bound by adult values, the "cult of adulthood," which "has been defining the contours of American life for nearly four decades. Its long tenure as the axis around which our culture turns has primed us with the belief that its tenets are both inevitable and infallible."Squares "set out to celebrate the virtues associated with being young adults. In this way, youth became the most important interpretive lens of the postwar generation." And youth is the prevailing norm today as the children of Boomers--the Millennial Generation--ascends from adolescence into adulthood. The youth-supreme narrative that Boomers celebrated is also the source of their disenfranchisement and consternation today as they have aged well beyond youth.Thus, contemporary society recognizes only two primary life stages: childhood--with a pass through adolescence--and adulthood. There is no place for another stage beyond adulthood, a stage of elderhood, and this realization points at the mission of Thomas's determined manuscript: to fully articulate the framework for a new and legitimatized life stage and to inspire significant numbers from the Boomer generation to embrace this unexamined way of living beyond adulthood, their second wind.With respect to Boomer aging, Thomas describes three emerging subcultures that will result from generational aging. In some interesting ways, these new subcultures correlate with the three segments the author delineates as representative of the generation in youth."Denialists" look at aging as a scientific problem that can be solved. They constitute the core customers of the anti-aging industry. They hold on to their youthful values and self-images, refusing to recognize the inexorable impact of biological aging. "The Denialists are (and will continue to be) the most vociferous of these subcultures. Members of this subculture loudly and proudly reject the changes that come with aging and embrace an alternative narrative that posits a future where one can be forever young." They also foment ageism."Realists" are more measured. Boomers in this subculture are "those who ... pride themselves on their willingness to admit that they are, in fact, changing. They see (and dislike) the changes that come with the passage of years and they are committed to actively resisting those changes." They seek liberation from the pains, disabilities, and tribulations that come with aging, but they understand that "aging includes significant decline-related difficulties." They are less inclined to be manipulated by unrealistic promises from unscrupulous anti-aging product companies, but they are willing to pursue alternative therapies that have proven to be effective, even in the short term."Enthusiasts" not only accept biological aging; they recognize that life beyond middle age requires a new set of values and behaviors that are distinct from the "cult of adulthood." They realize that aging means letting go. To convey this emerging subculture, Thomas presents the words of actor and filmmaker Josiah Polhemus who tidily summarizes the Enthusiasts' creed: "As I grow older, the outer world of appearance, prestige and perfection, all influences from outside sources, lessen; the inner world of imagination, gratitude and tolerance strengthen and keep me seeking wisdom and more breath."While Enthusiasts understand that aging includes difficulties due to decline, they propose to change the cultural narrative, to disassociate aging from decline. They hope to change debilitating connotations of aging, to confront ageism wherever it lurks, to advance cultural acceptance of those who are old, and to create new values for a time of life Thomas summarizes in his book's title as "second wind."Dr. Thomas is realistic about how difficult it will be to change the dominating ideologies of Squares/Denialists, but he's also hopeful that with adequate thought leadership and inspired activism, the generation that influenced so many important social changes in its youth will transform mainstream value consensus around the purpose and meaning of aging. Rather than fear or despise aging, society will once again learn to commemorate its oldest citizens, providing new pathways for relevant engagement and late-life contributions.Thomas is certainly doing his part with "Second Wind" by providing an intellectual feast about the possibilities for life after adulthood. He ties the future to the past with his observation that "although ... the Enthusiasts do not look like, act like, or sound like Hippies, they do share the Hippies' rejection of adulthood as the only meaningful framework for organizing one's life and sense of self."Thomas further asserts that the long-term well-being of society depends on Enthusiasts bringing this new life-stage to the forefront. And, as the geriatrician warns, their failure to change the meaning of aging may foretell the Denialists triumph, delivering "us into a new era that was defined, nearly exclusively, by the fear of growing old." Ageism and all its nasty side effects will dominate.While the author has undertaken an impressive exploration of the Boomer generation's youth, middle years, and aging, he is not immune to shaping his thoughts around a questionable premise. "History is not a collection of details," he insists. "It is an argument about what the details mean."Early in the book he emphatically concludes: "Yippie party founder Jerry Rubin insisted that people over thirty should not be trusted and millions agreed with him."The idea of not trusting anyone over thirty is a mythic generational caricature that has been encoded as if fact. In one of my books, I call this phenomenon "media mobilization of bias."The "Never trust anyone over thirty" taunt was uttered by Silent Generation member Jack Weinberg in 1965 during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Leader of the Free Speech Movement at The University of California, Berkeley, Weinberg uttered this sharp retort in reply to a reporter's insistence that older adults were manipulating his organization. He thought of his comment as purely cynical, and this snap at a reporter did not become the summary mantra of a generation.Frankly, most Boomers did not believe in the silliness of this idea. We knew thirty was inevitable--and, in many ways, desirable. As we matured, we had admired and trusted many people past thirty, including a president, John F. Kennedy; his brother, Bobby Kennedy; and a martyred activist, Martin Luther King. The aphorism became a popular media stereotype of Boomers to dramatize succinctly the generation's countercultural defiance around more serious issues such as racism, sexism, governmental cover-ups, and environmental destruction.Notwithstanding this single imprecise recounting of a threadbare cliché, Dr. Bill Thomas deserves generous accolades for his thought-provoking and motivating book. As he acknowledges, "... it is actually fantastically difficult to go beyond and then actively question the foundational belief of one's own culture." Yet he has done this with clarity, passion, and profound insights.

Interesting read. Good history to be remembered. We were there but so much is forgotten. The moves of society determined the actions. We thought it was the other way around.

Easy to read, profound in content. It is a visionary book about a new trajectory of the lifespan. Elderhood comes after adulthood, defined not by years alone, but by the quality of the relationship with oneself and others. Slower, deeper, more connected outlines a new quality of growth and development, not one of decline. Thomas describes how we came to age this way and how we can walk a new path towards a a more optimistic future of an older generation which not only understands where it is coming from but also paves a new path for many generations to come. We bought a few books and give it away as presents to people who are searching for their "second wind".

This book is a combination history of the “baby boom generation” and speculation about its future. The book describes how this generation burst upon the cultural/political scene in the 60s and 70s with a show of art and creativity (i.e. hippies) and environmental and political activism (i.e. anti-pollution and anti-Vietnam war). The hippie strand promised the “Age of Aquarius” full of harmony and understanding. The activist side promised a greener world free of nationalistic wars. The promise did not come to pass.What went wrong? We got instead a shift toward conservative politics and a drive toward ultra efficiency in the business world at the cost of worker loyalty. The conservative politics is best demonstrated by the advent of President Regan and his political successors. The push toward ultra efficiency in the business world is represented by Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The author, Bill Thomas, considers both to be negative outcomes for a generation that showed much promise in its early years. The book includes an extended and thorough criticism of Covey’s “Seven Habits” movement going so far as to call it a cult.Thomas then explores what the future holds for the “baby boom generation” as it heads into retirement--the author prefers the term “elderhood”. Will the generation live up to its potential and enter this phase of life with enthusiasm? Or is it going to waste its energy in an effort to ignore of the effects of aging or focusing on the negative and inevitable aspects of losses due to aging?Thomas is a cheerleader for the enthusiastic entrance into and acceptance of “elderhood.” Below are some quotations that indicate his understanding of the potential of “elderhood.”"I will make a simple promise. In the chapters that follow, I will surrender caution and introduce you without reservation to a secret world. It is a place where elders hold their heads hight, where age functions as a virtue that is capable of great and wondrous things, where the slings and arrows of ageism fall harmlessly to the ground."......"Elders and sages, rightly understood, are much more than aged people. They are heirs to a social status rich in honor and dignity. they are agents of change, guardians of both our past and our future. They are what we may yet become."....."Elderhood asks if we are willing to accept the fact that we are mortal and rewards those who are willing to do so with a lightness of being known only to those who have lost their fear of death."......"Elders have access to a reservoir of feelings and access to a level of emotional control and insight that far exceeds that available to adults. They also possess a depth that younger people would do well to emulate. Finally, elders are able to pivot away from the extrinsic outcome oriented measures of value and toward a moment-to-moment appreciation for being with others."There were some things about the book that didn’t work for me. Thomas invents numerous new words or perhaps new meanings for words which I’m not very enthusiastic about. He also is quick to classify people into different categories which is probably necessary but didn’t quite fit my understanding of reality. I thought his condemnation of Stephen Covey was a bit overdone. He also introduced several fictional characters in the book to provide examples with which the readers can identify. The author was wise enough to clearly indicate the fictional parts with italicized letters. But it turns out that I couldn’t identify closely with any of the fictional characters.

A little disapointed. Thought it would have focused more on the upside of old-age.

I expected this book to be intelligent and informative and it far exceeded those expectations. I was taken on a surprise journey through the past several decades as Dr. Thomas unfolded his brilliant analysis of political and social evolution. I recommend this book to anyone who has an Elder in their lives, or anyone who plans to be an Elder.