70Candles! Women Thriving in Their 8th Decade

by Jane Giddan, Ellen Cole

As they turned 70, the authors of 70Candles! Women Thriving in Their 8th Decade set out to investigate how women their age and older were living their lives. They sought role models for themselves and messages for the droves of baby boomers on their heels. They were curious about the challenges and joys of their age-mates, their work and retirement status, living arrangements, family and social connections, and more. These septuagenarians knew they were not like their own grandmothers who sat in rocking chairs knitting. But what is the new normal? This book, informative and inspirational, describes what they found in their reading, their ongoing 70candles.com blog, and 70candles conversation groups held in various parts of the U.S. Although they have taken somewhat different paths, the authors agree that turning 70 and entering their eighth decade has, indeed, been momentous. “Welcome to old age.” They and their peers have found this new era exciting, sometimes scary, but full of opportunity. As developmental psychologists speak of life’s stages and phases and rites of passage, the purpose of this book is the recognition that 70 is something important, part of an intriguing new stage of life, not just a birthday like any other. 70Candles! is aimed at all women approaching 70 and in their 70’s and those interested in this journey—men, women, family and friends.

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2015

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard for me to review for a couple of reasons. 1) I know one of the authors and 2) I think I am maybe 4-6 years away from more fully appreciating the material and what it has to offer.

The book is very well written and they did a great job on the flow of the material. You can tell a lot of thought and time was put into offering insight for older women. It is for the most part a compliation of real-life experiences, ideas, and issues that women are facing as they move into their 70's. The authors first created a blog to gather material from women all over the world, then broke the material down into various sections. They also held seminars in different cities and with different ethic groups. The material offers a wide-range of topics such as aging, retirement, health, loneliness, being active, moving. etc. I found some of the topics interesting while skimming over others. The input from all the women varied from being happy and active to being lonely and feeling a bit lost. For the most part, I am not a person that enjoys participating in seminars or groups of women discussing ideas, problems, etc. but for others that do, this is a great book to get!

I am 66 and have been retired for 1.5 years. So far I have enjoyed every minute of every day! That may change some day so I plan to keep the book and maybe in the years to come, use it as a reference for things that might arise in my life.

[Diane Scholten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was SO disappointed in this book! I'm 67 and was very eager to see what they had to say about this next decade i'm sailing towards. I think the authors thought they were writing a dissertation - SO many stats, footnote-y like comments - I felt each page was a "see! I did my research!" proof of methodology rather than anything helpful. With a tsunami of Boomer women about to turn 70 perhaps they could read some Malcolm Gladwell for in spiration and then re-write this in a more helpful fashion.

[Bonnie Staughton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading the blog of these 2 authors before I knew that they had also written a book. I'm 71 and not connected to many of those my own age. Most people I know are younger than I am by a couple decades. So, I'm anxious to know if I'm aging like those of my own age group.

This book gives the results of several "70Candles face-to-face gatherings". The first part of the book tells the make-up of these groups as far as ages, ethnicity, parts of the country, etc. The second part of the book--which wraps up the findings generated at these gatherings, gave how people of our age will tackle further aging and the need of moving or handling technology, etc.

Of course I found, in reading this book, that we all age differently and face different challenges. I'm not quite sure I got all the answers of all the questions I have about being 70+. But the book did give lots of examples of people's lives in their 70's and is a good start to finding out exactly what that entails.

[Mary Keen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The results of group studies and interviews of mostly thriving older women. Many quotations and comments collected.

I think best to read thru fairly quickly and then refer to sections as needed, especially for women's futures, possibly to purchase. Fortunately, there are excellent references at the back, altho' no index which would have been useful.

[Rae Simpson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Minuteman. Based on blog.

[Talkinterry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! With a few years to go before my 70 candles, this book provided valuable information as well as giving the reader a sense of not being alone on this journey. Finally women of a certain age are acknowledged rather than ignored. Thanks Jane and Ellen!