With a 14-city book tour underway, Marc Freedman is spreading the word about a new stage of life between midlife and old age. And while he’s attracting attention from boomers searching for meaning during that stage, he’s also gaining interest from national media outlets looking to explore what Freedman calls the “encore years.”
In The New York Times, reviewer Nancy F. Koehn calls Freedman’s book, The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife, “an imaginative work with the potential to affect our individual lives and our collective future.” She says the book’s “animating ideas often sparkle in their relevance.”
In USA Today‘s review, writer Kerry Hannon calls Freedman “a natural storyteller, a deep researcher and a forward thinker.” The review says Freedman — founder and CEO of Civic Ventures — “delves into the work of those who have gone before him, casting a wide net to quote economists, journalists, professors, historians, authors and anthropologists. … Chances are, you’ll find yourself jotting down notes to read more from these experts.”
Fast Company blogger Cali Williams Yost gives readers a primer on encore careers and how they fit into this new stage of life. While offering excerpts from her interview with Freedman, she calls The Big Shift, a “terrific new book” and a “must read.”
Meanwhile, Chris Farrell of Marketplace calls the book “an imaginative exploration and a practical guide to thinking about what it means to live longer — and well.”
AARP Bulletin ran a commentary from Freedman about the new stage of life. Salon presented an excerpt of the book’s first chapter, in which Freedman tells his personal story that led him to think of the encore years as a distinct stage. He recalls reserving a hotel room using his AARP discount card and — as the father of two young boys at the time — having to request two cribs.
Second Act, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes have also enlightened readers about The Big Shift, as well as local programs, including The Emily Rooney Show on Boston public radio and the Harvard Business Review IdeaCast podcast series (both available for download).