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How to Live Forever
The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations
The secret to happiness, longevity, and living on is through mentoring the next generation
In How to Live Forever, Encore.org founder and CEO Marc Freedman tells the story of his thirty-year quest to answer some of contemporary life’s most urgent questions: With so many living so much longer, what is the meaning of the increasing years beyond 50? How can a society with more older people than younger ones thrive? How do we find happiness when we know life is long and time is short?
In a poignant book that defies categorization, Freedman finds insights by exploring purpose and generativity, digging into the drive for longevity and the perils of age segregation, and talking to social innovators across the globe bringing the generations together for mutual benefit. He finds wisdom in stories from young and old, featuring ordinary people and icons like jazz great Clark Terry and basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
But the answers also come from stories of Freedman’s own mentors-a sawmill worker turned surrogate grandparent, a university administrator who served as Einstein’s driver, a cabinet secretary who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the gym teacher who was Freedman’s father.
How to Live Forever is a deeply personal call to find fulfillment and happiness in our longer lives by connecting with the next generation and forging a legacy of love that lives beyond us.
Praise
#1 on the Wall Street Journal's list of "best books in 2018 on aging well"—
"A book that grabs us by the shoulders, turns us toward an important issue, and grips us until we truly see and understand."—Kirkus Reviews
"'The old and young are
built for each other.' On this simple but profound statement, Marc Freedman
builds an inspiring and timely manifesto for a better future. As heartwarming
as Tuesdays with Morrie, yet deeply
researched and enlivened by enough real-life examples to persuade the toughest
skeptic, How to Live Forever is both
an intergenerational love letter and a practical manual for change. The era of
age apartheid is ending, and Marc Freedman's beacon lights the way ahead."—Jonathan Rauch, author,
The Happiness Curve, and Contributing
Editor, The Atlantic
"To be happy, what do we need? Strong bonds with others and a sense
of meaning. In How to Live Forever, Marc Freedman brilliantly explores
how we can foster happier, healthier, more productive lives by connecting the
older and younger generations. Freedman illuminates why and how the generations
are tremendous untapped resources for each other-and why, as we face a
more-old-than-young world, creating this connection matters more than
ever."—Gretchen Rubin,
author of New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project
"In this powerful and persuasive work, Marc
Freedman shows that the generation gap is far from inevitable. In its place, he
offers a compelling vision for the future of intergenerational relations: an
alliance of talents that brings joy, empowerment, and abundance to both youth
and old age. How to Live Forever is a
heartfelt and heartwarming book that will spark purpose in the young and hope
in their elders."—Daniel
H. Pink, author of When and Drive
"Beautifully written and
enormously inspiring, How to Live Forever
profoundly changes the conversation about long life and rewrites the
generational compact. Read it and be changed."—Laura
Carstensen, Professor of Psychology, Stanford
University, and author, A Long Bright
Future
"Marc
Freedman's How To Live Forever is a wise and joyful gift to
readers of every age."—Gloria Steinem
"Marc Freedman is one of the wisest thought leaders
in the aging and longevity world. With this book, he has crafted a masterpiece,
written with deep humanity and insight. This is a soulful rallying cry for
intergenerational collaboration like we've never seen before. I finished this
book brimming with optimism about our future."—Chip Conley, author of Wisdom@Work
and Strategic Advisor, Airbnb
"In How to Live Forever, Marc Freedman
draws upon his lifetime of knowledge and experience as one of the nation's
foremost social entrepreneurs and his skill as a masterful storyteller to
demonstrate that the only way to live forever is to live together. Arguing that
our role as older people is not to try to be young, but to be there for those
who actually are, he makes a compelling case that inspires us to connect people
of different generations."—Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP and author of Disrupt Aging
"Twenty years ago I read Marc Freedman's groundbreaking book Prime
Time and it changed my life...inspiring and guiding me as I embarked on my
encore career. With How to Live Forever, Freedman has done it
again. This extraordinary, insightful, and deeply moving book will touch
your heart and remain on your mind long after you put it down. It might even
change your life!"—Sherry Lansing, former Chairman and
CEO, Paramount Pictures, and Founder and CEO, The Sherry Lansing Foundation
"Marc Freedman knows that we owe our kids more - more
caring adults, more support, more hope, more love. And he knows that we have
the human beings - tens of millions of us over 50 -- who can deliver. If you
care about kids, read this beautiful, hopeful book, get swept away by the power
of its argument and its stories, and step up to the challenge. Surely, our
generation can do more to change the odds."—Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education and author of How
Schools Work
"Marc
Freedman has written a warm, personal and inspiring alternative to the sorry
national narrative of generational conflict. This is an important bookend to
Atul Gawande's "Being Mortal" and a humane guide to true immortality."—Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer-prize
winning columnist, author, and founder of The Conversation Project
"Marc Freedman's How to
Live Forever not only makes a compelling case for why it is imperative that
we unite people of all ages across a shared vision, but it lays out
specifically how older Americans can find purpose and happiness later in life.
This is a must-read for anyone
interested in creating a more inclusive and unified society for future
generations."—Michael D. Eisner, former CEO of The
Walt Disney Company and founder of The Eisner Foundation
"How To Live Forever is a beautiful guide for
helping all of us embrace the journey of life, and contribute all we can at
each stage. I'm so grateful to Marc Freedman for sharing this vision of a
society that values and maximizes everyone, young and old."—Wendy Kopp, Founder of Teach For America & CEO of Teach
For All
"'Live mortal,' Marc Freedman advises: accept
aging, build meaningful relationships with people of all ages, age-integrate everything-and
get cracking. That's how to build the multigenerational world we all hope to
live long enough to inhabit and, in the process, create legacies that outlive
us. This deeply optimistic book is Freedman's legacy, and what a gift."—Ashton Applewhite, author
of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism
"Marc Freedman is today's most insightful
thinker about thriving in the second half of life. With personal stories and
robust science, How To Live Forever argues that finding meaning is the
surest way to happiness, and that investing in the young--rather than competing
with them--is the best route of all. Anyone over 40 will love this witty,
humble, compelling, and most of all, hopeful, book."—Barbara Bradley
Hagerty, New York Times
bestselling author of Life Reimagined
"Forget skin creams and fad diets. As Marc
Freedman reminds us, there is only one way to live forever: be useful to others
- especially to those coming up behind you. In this wise, inspiring, and
practical book he offers us all a clear path to a purposeful life."—Eric Liu, CEO, Citizen University and author, You're More
Powerful Than You Think
"A beautifully written,
often funny, and deeply moving guide to finding purpose and joy in the second
half of life, How to Live Forever is a blueprint for making the most of
our multigenerational future. I loved this book and you will, too."—Henry Timms, co-founder #GivingTuesday
and co-author New Power
"In this wonderful, insightful and above all
inspiring book, Marc Freedman reminds us that longer lives aren't just about
retirement income, keeping fit and the golf course but about engagement and
connectivity--connecting together the different stages of your own life and
connecting people at different stages of life. With humanity and wisdom
Freedman offers a positive view of ageing and life's journey and how as an
individual and as a society we should relish the opportunity"—Andrew Scott,
Professor of Economics, London Business School and co-author, The Hundred Year Life
"Longevity is humanity's new frontier, and Marc Freedman is one of its
greatest explorers. In How to Live Forever, he charts a path to improved
relationships between young and old while providing a cornucopia of ideas for
personal reinvention. This is the book we've all been waiting for."—Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author of Age
Wave and A New Purpose: Redefining Money, Family, Work, Retirement and
Success
"This
moving, thoughtful book is perfect for all of us who crave more meaning and
connection as we age. Highly recommended!"—Dan Heath, co-author (with Chip
Heath) of Switch and The Power of Moments
"Part surprising history, part fascinating sociology, part inspiring
manifesto--you close Freedman's book feeling determined to end age segregation,
and better yet, crystal clear on how to do just that."—Courtney E. Martin, author of The New Better Off: Reinventing the
American Dream
"One of the best books by a social observer or
social entrepreneur I've ever read! Filled with wonderful writing, smart
observations, humor, humility and humanity, How
to Live Forever will make you hopeful about
our individual and collective futures."—John Gomperts,
CEO, America's Promise Alliance
"How to Live Forever isn't just the
best-ever title for a book. Marc Freedman has given us an entirely new way to
think about our common future, along with tips we can all use to leave an
enduring legacy."—Sree Sreenivasan, former chief digital officer of New York City, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Columbia University
"What happens when people from different generations
work and play and think together? Fresh ideas for tackling big societal
problems, to start. But perhaps more importantly, Marc Freedman shows that
intergenerational mixing can produce uniquely satisfying relationships for both
the millennial and boomer alike. This book presents an inspiring vision for how
we should each endeavor to reach up, across, and down the age bracket to form
intergenerational friendships. They will enrich our lives and may even save the
world."—Ben Casnocha, co-author (with Reid Hoffman) of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The
Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your
Career
"Lace up your hiking boots and embark on a path of discovery with
Marc Freedman as he traverses the movement of older people connecting with
younger ones. His message will motivate you to find "purpose by investing in
the next generation, forging a legacy that endures, and leaving the world
better than we found it," as he writes in this influential book. How
to Live Forever is about
possibilities and hope and dreams and, yes, stark reality, clearly voiced by
someone I trust and admire, and you will too."—Kerry Hannon, New York Times columnist and author of Great Jobs for Everyone 50+
"Age is not just a number. It's a
beckoning. In Marc Freedman's wonderful book, we meet scores of people who've discovered
a passion and purpose in the second half of their lives by helping the young
thrive. They needn't be marvelous outliers or heartwarming exceptions. They can
be all of us."—Paul Taylor, author of The Next America: Boomers, Millennials and the Looming
Generational Showdown
"In a time of escalating social divides, it's
not surprising that some forecast a future of intergenerational strife, an
inevitable battle for resources and primacy. Marc Freedman sees it differently.
In his latest and most compelling book, How to Live Forever, Freedman
makes the case for generational interdependence-for the essential bond between
old and young. For those in my generation, How to Live Forever is a call
to action, offering powerful evidence that we can live more meaningful lives
through connection with younger people and contribution to their health,
education, and welfare."—Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the
Future of Aging
