Book Review

Demographers tell us that every day 8,000 boomers turn age 60. So what are they looking for? Are ageing individuals of the baby boom generation perpetual spiritual seekers? How do they differ from the generations before them? Many people have speculated about the boomers' beliefs and higher values (or the lack of same). Now the details of their spiritual worldview have received substantial factual representation.

SPIRITUAL MARKETPLACE: Baby boomers and the remaking of American religion by Wade Clark Roof (Princeton University Press, 2001) is one source to go for answers.

A generation of seekers: The spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation
This book is one of the series of Wade Clark Roof’s research findings on the spiritual lives of the baby boom generation in America.

Roof compiled 80 questions to ask of a stratified sample of 1600 boomers, plus some comparative groups of older Americans. Among the questions:

• Do you feel God is personally involved in your life?
• Do you believe that God is "within us"?
• How much do you think about why there is suffering in the world?
• What happens after death?
• Is it good to explore many different religious teachings and learn from them, or should one stick to a particular faith?

The researchers followed up this survey with an in-depth telephone interview conducted with one third of the respondents. Then they conducted face-to-face interviews with 64 of these people. There followed several group meetings with the respondents to discuss in still more depth some of the spiritual or religious issues that emerged in the earlier interviews. Clearly, the study was thorough.

The book contains many interesting charts and statistics. It is easy to graze among the facts. When asked, for example, "Which is more important: to be alone and to meditate, or to worship with others?" 53 per cent preferred to be alone; 29 per cent preferred to worship with others; 28 per cent indicated a belief in reincarnation; and 26 a belief in astrology. The last two figures were constant, regardless of level of education. In the older generation, belief in these two controversial areas existed mainly in the less educated. Sixty per cent prefer to explore a variety of religious teachings, while 28 per cent feel it is important to stick to one faith.

Roof puts the facts together to present a picture with many complex patterns, and offers some startling conclusions. For starters, the boomers are spiritual seekers. Almost without exception they believe in God. Although they picture God in different ways (and many are still struggling to find an image they can accept), they all seem to have an instinct for spiritual commitment, something that will take them beyond themselves. They have, however, an apparent deep division in their ranks.

The overall findings report that greater the amount of education, the greater is the desire for variety in religious exploration.

Wade Clark Roof is JF Rowny Professor of Religion and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The research was funded by the Lilly Foundation.

Younger Next Year: A guide to living like 50 until we are 80 and beyond
by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, ISBN : 0761134239 Workman Publishing Company , 2004.

About This Book
Turn back the biological clock. A breakthrough book for men--as much fun to read as it is persuasive--Younger Next Year draws on the very latest science of ageing to show how men 50 or older can become functionally younger every year for the next five to ten years, and continue to live like fifty-year-olds until they are well into their eighties.

“Harry” in the book is Henry S Lodge, a specialist in internal medicine and preventive healthcare. Chris Crowley is Harry's 70-year-old patient who is stronger today (and skiing better) than when he was 40. Together, in alternating chapters that are lively, sometimes outspoken, and always utterly convincing, they spell out Harry's Rules and the science behind them. Harry’s Rules are deceptively simple:

• Exercise six days a week.
• Eat what we know we should.
• Connect to other people.
• Commit to feeling passionate about something.

The science, simplified and demystified, ranges from the molecular biology of growth and decay to how our bodies and minds evolved (and why they fare so poorly in our sedentary, all-feast-no-famine culture). The result is nothing less than a paradigm shift in ageing. Welcome to the next third of your life--train for it, and Harry shows you how to enjoy your life more fully.

Review
Believing they have a unique approach for improving men's lives, Crowley, a former litigator, and Lodge, a board-certified internist, collaborated to write this “evolutionary” health program.

The authors base their plan on the idea that instead of looking forward to decades of pain as the body slowly deteriorates, it is possible to live as if we were 50, maybe even younger, for the rest of our lives. Yet, with the exception of Harry's First Rule (exercise at least six days a week) there is not much that is very new or groundbreaking in the Rule agenda. Most recommendations fall under the “common sense” umbrella, though these suggestions may be news to many men, who are not as steeped in the world of health and fitness as most women are. These individuals may find the chapters dealing with nutrition and biology particularly informative. The authors' method of proffering their philosophy is rather trite, however, and their cavalier demeanour belies the significance of what they have to say. More than one-third of the book is devoted to how and why they came up with this program based on their own lives, with special attention to 70-year-old Crowley's impressive abilities (he says he can ski better now than he could 20 years ago).

Monika
Monika Bhatia
Project Manager and Editor, Quality4life
28 August 2006

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