Fifty to Forever

by Hugh Downs

An encouraging source book for aging parents and their families explores eldercare options, including day care and home care, challenges the misconception of age and helplessness, and provides ways to anticipate future needs. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Hardcover

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

Hugh Malcolm Downs is a retired American broadcaster, television host, producer, and author. He served as anchor of 20/20, host of The Today Show, announcer for The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, host of the Concentration game show, host of the PBS talk show Over Easy and co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.

Reviews

[Mary Aune · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed because I thought this book was going to be a biography of Hugh Downs. Instead it was guidance from him about aging. There were a few tidbits about his personal life, interests and career that were interesting. However, the content mostly focused on things I want to address as they present themselves to me (why worry about stuff until you have to) and things that no longer pertain to me (like aging parents).

[John Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing book whose title doesn’t match the materials – at all. Instead of reading a book with ‘essays’ on life past 50, the book was filled with simplistic information, even more simple advice, and generic information one could better capture with a google search. A small portion is that the book came out 27 years ago so the various facts were all outdated – life expediency in our county is now what is what cited as just the age for women, the high end of nursing homes is now the average range, that we have grown from 31 million people over 65 to 46.18 million (12% of the population to 14.5%) and other such facts. He speaks about the increase due to life expediency but totally misses that the growing seniors were also bloated by baby boomers.

The book did have a few interesting points. One is that ‘old is older than me.” Good point.
Downs also reminded the reader that Rep Claude Pepper was knocked out of office due to the McCarthyism of the 1950s but returned as a Freshman in the House at age 62. Downs mentions his own decision to leave the Today Show and not having to wake at 4:15 am every day but then realizing that while he wasn’t considering retirement, the media reported he ‘retired.” Looking at Wikipedia, I realized that the author ended up having some incredible years after he ‘retired’ from the Today Show after nine years, he co-anchored a show with Barbara Walters then joined her on the TV show 20/20 for 21 years! He just passed away last year – at age 99.

It’s too bad this book doesn’t share more about his own life – including being Jack Parr’s sidekick and living with the same woman he married in 1944 until she passed away, at age 94, three years before his own passing. That would have been exciting to read – and would have lived up to the title.

[Cindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skipped through a lot of this book - wanted to read about his life.

[Cws]

646.79 Dow