Fans pick 100 books like Design the Long Life You Love

By Ayse Birsel,

Here are 100 books that Design the Long Life You Love fans have personally recommended if you like Design the Long Life You Love. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

Tammy Gooler Loeb Author Of Work from the Inside Out: Break Through Nine Common Obstacles and Design a Career That Fulfills You

From my list on BE your best YOU in work and life.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a career and executive coach for the past 25+ years, I have been on a mission to help people develop more satisfying and meaningful connections to their careers. I am passionate about this because most people spend the better part of their adult lives at work, more time than they do with their families, sleeping, and other priorities. Yet many become unhappy in their work, losing themselves over decades, and get blinded by their financial and career success. It can seem unimaginable to find a way to a more fulfilling career. I am determined to show them the pathways of possibilities, no matter where they are in their lives.

Tammy's book list on BE your best YOU in work and life

Tammy Gooler Loeb Why did Tammy love this book?

This book is one of my favorite books for work and life. I believe it is more important to ask good questions rather than to know a lot of stuff. I love this book because of the seven questions that form the foundation for it and how useful they can be in so many parts of our lives.

I think it has made me a better listener and communicator. I also appreciate the no-nonsense simplicity with which the concepts and questions are introduced in each section, along with prompts and exercises that support putting it all into practice. This book has helped me be a better me all around!

By Michael Bungay Stanier,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Coaching Habit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Look for Michael's new book, The Advice Trap, which focuses on taming your Advice Monster so you can stay curious a little longer and change the way you lead forever.

In Michael Bungay Stanier's The Coaching Habit, coaching becomes a regular, informal part of your day so managers and their teams can work less hard and have more impact.

Drawing on years of experience training more than 10,000 busy managers from around the globe in practical, everyday coaching skills, Bungay Stanier reveals how to unlock your peoples' potential. He unpacks seven essential coaching questions to demonstrate how-by saying less and…


Book cover of Embrace the Work, Love Your Career: A Guided Workbook for Realizing Your Career Goals with Clarity, Intention, and Confidence

Tammy Gooler Loeb Author Of Work from the Inside Out: Break Through Nine Common Obstacles and Design a Career That Fulfills You

From my list on BE your best YOU in work and life.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a career and executive coach for the past 25+ years, I have been on a mission to help people develop more satisfying and meaningful connections to their careers. I am passionate about this because most people spend the better part of their adult lives at work, more time than they do with their families, sleeping, and other priorities. Yet many become unhappy in their work, losing themselves over decades, and get blinded by their financial and career success. It can seem unimaginable to find a way to a more fulfilling career. I am determined to show them the pathways of possibilities, no matter where they are in their lives.

Tammy's book list on BE your best YOU in work and life

Tammy Gooler Loeb Why did Tammy love this book?

I love this book because it is positively engaging from the start. It is actually “a guided workbook for realizing your career goals with clarity, focus, and confidence.” I love the way it blends stories from Fran Hauser’s corporate life with her robust knowledge of careers and workplaces, along with questions and exercises to get you reflecting and thinking about what you want most in your professional life.
And I love how beautifully designed the book is with its colors, shapes, and flows throughout, keeping me immersed in its pages. As someone who likes to think about career development but is also visually oriented, this book had me hooked from the moment I laid eyes on it.

By Fran Hauser,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Embrace the Work, Love Your Career as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Embrace the Work, Love Your Career is for women who want to fall back in love with their work and design a career action plan grounded in confidence and clarity.” —Forbes

YOU ARE DESERVING OF A CAREER YOU LOVE.

Fran Hauser, best-selling author of The Myth of the Nice Girl, follows up with a workbook for women who want to get more out of their careers. Embrace the Work, Love Your Career combines accessible advice, time-tested strategies, creative prompts, and thoughtful exercises into one holistic resource.

Stemming from years of experience in senior leadership at Time Inc.’s People, InStyle and…


Book cover of Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World

Tammy Gooler Loeb Author Of Work from the Inside Out: Break Through Nine Common Obstacles and Design a Career That Fulfills You

From my list on BE your best YOU in work and life.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a career and executive coach for the past 25+ years, I have been on a mission to help people develop more satisfying and meaningful connections to their careers. I am passionate about this because most people spend the better part of their adult lives at work, more time than they do with their families, sleeping, and other priorities. Yet many become unhappy in their work, losing themselves over decades, and get blinded by their financial and career success. It can seem unimaginable to find a way to a more fulfilling career. I am determined to show them the pathways of possibilities, no matter where they are in their lives.

Tammy's book list on BE your best YOU in work and life

Tammy Gooler Loeb Why did Tammy love this book?

The first thing I loved about the book was its title. I have seen first-hand how curiosity can be a powerful force in improving people’s lives and making a difference in the world. Having interviewed over 260 people who changed their careers to gain greater fulfillment and meaning in their lives, curiosity was the one common thread that guided them to take risks, walk through doubts, and make critical decisions.

I love Shigeoka’s D.I.V.E. framework: Detach–Intend–Value–Embrace. It gave me guidelines for deepening and expanding my own curiosity with prompts to spark my thinking and opportunities to question my assumptions, discover new things, and cast aside self-doubts to take action, regardless of the outcomes. 

By Scott Shigeoka,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seek as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A timely bridge for our divided world' - Adam Grant, bestselling author of Give and Take

Open your mind, heal your relationships, and connect across divides with this groundbreaking guide to deep curiosity from internationally-recognized curiosity expert, Scott Shigeoka.

At a time when tensions over race, religion, gender identity and more have fractured our lives and relationships, curiosity is the key to fostering connection, growth, and healing.

Seek will help you build the courage to be transformed by the people, places and experiences you encounter - unlocking deep curiosity, and strengthening this fundamental human skill.

Using Shigeoka's transformative four-step framework,…


Book cover of Your Unstoppable Greatness: Break Free from Impostor Syndrome, Cultivate Your Agency, and Achieve Your Ultimate Career Goals

Tammy Gooler Loeb Author Of Work from the Inside Out: Break Through Nine Common Obstacles and Design a Career That Fulfills You

From my list on BE your best YOU in work and life.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a career and executive coach for the past 25+ years, I have been on a mission to help people develop more satisfying and meaningful connections to their careers. I am passionate about this because most people spend the better part of their adult lives at work, more time than they do with their families, sleeping, and other priorities. Yet many become unhappy in their work, losing themselves over decades, and get blinded by their financial and career success. It can seem unimaginable to find a way to a more fulfilling career. I am determined to show them the pathways of possibilities, no matter where they are in their lives.

Tammy's book list on BE your best YOU in work and life

Tammy Gooler Loeb Why did Tammy love this book?

I love this book because it is research-based and a practical manual in one concise, easy-to-digest, engageable volume. I can get cynical about books that cover topics like impostor syndrome, burnout, perfectionism, and leadership because they seem to offer superficial approaches to very real challenges.

I love it because it is illustrated by relatable stories, coupled with questions and exercises that enabled me to realistically address obstacles we all have encountered in our careers. I keep this book within arm’s reach of my desk at all times as it feels like an essential toolkit for work and life.

By Lisa Orbe-Austin, Richard Orbe-Austin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Unstoppable Greatness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discover how to overcome fear, build confidence in who you are, and celebrate your accomplishments through the interactive activities and life-changing advice in this easy-to-use, guided workbook.

Have you ever felt stuck at your job? Or burned out due to a toxic work environment? When you struggle with Impostor Syndrome and feel like a fraud, it can become easy to get trapped into an unhealthy cycle in your career and lose focus of your goals. Taking this next step in overcoming your impostor syndrome will encourage you to feel confident about your accomplishments, skills, and abilities in order to achieve…


Book cover of A Spool of Blue Thread

Cheri Krueger Author Of Thanks, Universe

From my list on strong women and the difficult choices mothers face.

Why am I passionate about this?

I wrote this book to give my mother an alternate life. She was a mother at age fifteen, mother of five by twenty-seven, and a grandmother by thirty-three. Being a parent defined her life, but she did not enjoy motherhood and was very frank on the subject. Thanks, Universe is my way of giving Mom her freedom and even though she never read anything I wrote, I like to think she would have approved of Pauline and the choices she made.

Cheri's book list on strong women and the difficult choices mothers face

Cheri Krueger Why did Cheri love this book?

If you enjoy ‘quieter’ family sagas, I recommend everything by Anne Tyler, but this book in particular resonates with me.

Abby Whitshank’s character blossoms and unfolds through the pages as she shows readers astonishing layers and unwavering strength. She is not who she seems at first glance and is absolutely the fierce, loyal, and loving mama any child wants on their side.

By Anne Tyler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Spool of Blue Thread as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015**

**Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015**

**Sunday Times bestseller**

'It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon...'

This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she and Red fell in love that day in July 1959. The whole family on the porch, relaxed, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before.

And yet this gathering is different. Abby and Red are getting older, and decisions must be made about how best to look after them and their beloved family home.…


Book cover of Ageless Erotica

Carolyn Lee Arnold Author Of Fifty First Dates After Fifty: A Memoir

From my list on that model older women unabashedly enjoying sex.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a very sexual woman since my twenties, and provided sex education for women as a young feminist. When I embarked on a fun dating project in my late fifties to date 50 men in order to find the right partner for me, I knew that many of my dates would include sexual encounters. My upbeat memoir about that project, Fifty First Dates After Fifty, includes the sex scenes, because I wanted to provide healthy, satisfying images of older women enjoying sex so that our sexuality would be validated and visible to each other and the world. The sex-positive books I recommend celebrate the variety of women’s sexuality.

Carolyn's book list on that model older women unabashedly enjoying sex

Carolyn Lee Arnold Why did Carolyn love this book?

I recommend this hot and sexy collection of erotic fiction and memoir because for me it doubles as a source of arousal and a mesmerizing glimpse of the range of sexual activities that seniors (mostly hetero, some lesbians, some gay men) imagine and carry out.

From the slow sex of long-term lovers, to hand jobs offered despite arthritic hands or carpel tunnel, to the variety of ways married couples orchestrate hot love-making, to the pleasure of “in-the-meantime” lovers, these stories sizzle and burn. They expand our view of what is sexually possible as we age, and provide an inspiring and stimulating bedside reference for singles and couples of all ages.

To be savored one story at a time, not gulped down as a whole. 

By Joan Price (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ageless Erotica as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ageless Erotica is a steamy anthology of erotic stories and memoir essays written for a mature audience by writers over the age of 50. Edited by senior sex expert and advocate Joan Price, this collection is full of erotica seniors can relate to,embracing the agelessness of sexuality while still encompassing the changes that accompany aging. Some selections are tender and loving, while others are edgy and kinky. But whether characters are going solo, having spicy sex with partners they love and have loved for decades, or engaging in casual encounters, every story included in these pages aims to arouse and…


Book cover of Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

Loretta Pyles

From my list on rewilding and falling in love with outdoor adventure.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, I built snow forts, climbed the white birch tree in my front yard, and talked to a rabbit named Bobby who lived in the bushes. I rode my bike on adventures, getting lost and exploring woods, ditches, and surrounding landscapes. In a household where I often felt unsafe, time outdoors was a refuge. Working in a career as a university professor of social work for the past 20 years, I have used mindful outdoor experiences, as well as yoga and meditation, as a source of healing. And I have loved sharing these practices with my students. Today, I am documenting my rewilding adventures in my van which has been a joyful way to honor my inner child.

Loretta's book list on rewilding and falling in love with outdoor adventure

Loretta Pyles Why did Loretta love this book?

I remember reading this book on a camping trip. It’s a story of the nomad movement, particularly focused on low-income adults who are forced to live in their cars, campers, and RVs.

I fell in love with the grit and resilience of the people who often face difficult circumstances but embrace the minimalism, connection to the natural world, and community they build on the road out in wild places in the desert Southwest.

You might be familiar with the movie that came out a few years ago, but I highly recommend the book, which I couldn’t put down.

By Jessica Bruder,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Nomadland as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the beet fields of North Dakota to the campgrounds of California to Amazon's CamperForce programme in Texas, American employers have discovered a new, low-cost labour pool, made up largely of transient older adults. These invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in RVs and modified vans, forming a growing community of nomads.

Nomadland tells a revelatory tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy-one which foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, it celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these…


Book cover of A Life Complete: Emotional and Spiritual Growth for Midlife and Beyond

Barbara Coombs Lee Author Of Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life's End

From my list on opening to death to live your most joyful life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first started tending patients at age 15, as a candy striper at St. Joseph Hospital. That was a long time ago, and since then I’ve learned much at patients’ bedsides, in Congress, statehouses and courtrooms. Through sequential careers in nursing, medicine, law, and advocacy, I learned that end-of-life experiences have the most to teach us about being truly present to our lives, about learning to love well and growing in wisdom. Personal autonomy, individual empowerment, and guided planning are all key to moving past our fear of death. In the end, as Seneca observed, “The art of living well and dying well are one.”

Barbara's book list on opening to death to live your most joyful life

Barbara Coombs Lee Why did Barbara love this book?

As Sallirae ministered to the elderly in an upscale continuing care community, she wondered how some residents aged into a graceful presence that attracted people to them, while others drove people away with their grumpy discontentedness. Some remained curious and engaged in life, but others shrank in interest and spirit. She studied her subjects and their histories closely and rewarded readers with practical tips to adopt in middle age to prevent us from poisoning our later years with grief and regret. What exactly can we do now to live our old age in joy and contentment? Sallirae died in 2007 at age 66, too young to reap the wise and graceful old age she bequeathed to the rest of us. I hold her memory in gratitude as I myself grow old. 

By Sallirae Henderson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Life Complete as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A minister and counselor takes on middle age and aging in this insightful book, guiding readers through this bittersweet but necessary life passage while exploring the choices that we face. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.


Book cover of The Care of Older People Practice Manual

Neil Thompson Author Of The Social Worker's Practice Manual

From my list on promoting social justice.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father died when I was a young child, and so my uncle became the nearest I had to a father figure. He was a trade unionist and strongly committed to social justice. I was so enamoured by the compassion he showed towards socially disadvantaged people and the struggles they encounter through no fault of their own that I became an advocate for social justice from an early age. That passion for fairness and inclusion has stayed with me throughout my career and therefore figures strongly in my writings and, over the years, in my teaching, training, and consultancy work.

Neil's book list on promoting social justice

Neil Thompson Why did Neil love this book?

When it comes to the literature relating to social justice, class, race, and gender tend to take the lion’s share of interest and coverage.

This means that ageism, which can have devastating effects on older people's lives is often left out of the picture. And, even when it is covered, it tends to be addressed in theoretical and policy terms, with little or nothing said about the practical challenges of tackling ageism on a day-to-day basis.

This book is the clear exception. The author is evidently a passionate champion of treating older people with dignity as part of an overall strategy of anti-ageist practice. Clearly written, with a lovely blend of theory and practice, this is a gem of a book.

By Sue Thompson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Care of Older People Practice Manual as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Caring effectively for older people is a major challenge in today’s pressurized times. Making sure that each and every older person is treated with dignity and as a unique individual in their own right is a fundamental requirement for good practice. This manual, written by a highly experienced former nurse, care manager, social worker, tutor and researcher, provides a foundation of knowledge and practical guidance for building best practice. If you work in any aspect of providing care for older people, then this manual will be an invaluable learning resource to guide your practice.

Endorsments

This is a long overdue…


Book cover of Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying

Lucille Ann Meltz Author Of The Elder Widow's Walk: A Personal Inner Journey and Guide for Bereaved Widows 65 and Beyond

From my list on aging wisdom, loss, and spiritual rebirthing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a spiritual seeker my entire life, drawn to the mysteries of life, the nature of the soul, the afterlife, intuitive knowing, higher consciousness, and psycho-spiritual transformation. Besides the numerous personal teachers who have enriched my path, personal/ spiritual growth books have been a powerful guide and inspiration. In my coaching practice “Touch The Soul”, I continually draw on my own 70 plus years of acquired elder wisdom as well as the wisdom of so many who have come before me, writers and wayshowers of expansive spirituality.I am grateful to share a few books which may enlighten and deepen your own spiritual journey.

Lucille's book list on aging wisdom, loss, and spiritual rebirthing

Lucille Ann Meltz Why did Lucille love this book?

An icon of the 60's spiritual revolution, Ram Dass, 30 plus years later, reveals the wisdom of his elder years following his stroke as he faced radical self-birthing. With sharp insight, humor, and humility he shares his fears of living and dying and the spiritual beliefs that sustain him. His chapter on “Learning to Die” is exceptionally poignant as he addresses three major questions: How do I deal with the process of dying, what happens at the moment of death and what will happen after death? As an elder woman myself, I treasure this as a truly comforting beacon for elders and for anyone who knows and loves them.

By Ram Dass,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Still Here as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

More than thirty years ago, an entire generation sought a new way of life, looking for fulfillment and meaning in a way no one had before. Leaving his teaching job at Harvard, Ram Dass embodied the role of spiritual seeker, showing others how to find peace within themselves in one of the greatest spiritual classics of the twentieth century, the two-million-copy bestseller Be Here Now. As many of that generation enter the autumn of their years, the big questions of peace and of purpose have returned demanding answers. And once again, Ram Dass blazes a new trail, inviting all to…


Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever
Book cover of Embrace the Work, Love Your Career: A Guided Workbook for Realizing Your Career Goals with Clarity, Intention, and Confidence
Book cover of Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World

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