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The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life
America's 78 million baby boomers will begin turning sixty next year. Collectively, boomers have always displayed salient qualities of independence, curiosity, and strong-mindedness, as well as a capacity for creative thinking. These aren't the characteristics traditionally associated with seniors, but most commentators agree all that's set to change as baby boomers become the new old. Moving towards their senior years, they are rejecting the very terms "senior" and "elderly," instead seeking out new ways to redefine later life stages.

As its title suggests, Dr. Gene Cohen's book is in tune with this quest. In particular he understands that baby boomrs, one of the most creatively-minded generations in memory, should not be expected to slow or shut down their creative side no matter how they age. Borrowing from Einstein's famous formula, he posits his own version: "C=me2" means creativity is achieved by combining a mass of knowledge with experience both inner and outer. By this equation, the older a person gets, the greater their creative potential.

Standing back to view the stages of an entire lifespan, Cohen identifies four sections of mid and late life, each of which presents its own opportunities for creativity to blossom. He calls these stages re-evaluation, liberation, summing-up and encore, and turns to recent scientific research to back up his belief that brain function does not necessarily diminish with age. He points out many advantages that experience can bring to an open mind, and makes a compelling argument that the difficulties and struggles seniors experience in fact make their life stage especially conducive to creative release. Sidebars enumerate accomplishments of seniors and offer exercises for getting creative juices flowing.

Always up for a little debunking, baby boomers will richly appreciate how Cohen takes on some of the harmful aging myths our society tends to hold close. It's a well-founded argument, based on both biological and psychological analysis: with practice we can, for example, increase the number of essential connections between brain cells. It's also an appealingly egalitarian approach, as Cohen clearly believes creativity is for everyone without exception.

It's also an important resource for business heads and marketers who understand baby boomers' pro-active, self-determining proclivities. Cohen illustrates an important way in which individuals can take control of their experience of aging. Anyone involved in catering to a mature market will appreciate the insights offered here on overall health-in-aging.

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