Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement from Some Who’ve Done It and Some Who Never Will
Written by Steve Lopez
Narrated by Steve Lopez
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
"Steve Lopez is insightful, ingenious, and often hilarious as he navigates one of life's biggest questions." --Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Dark Hours
Four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez explores the meaning of work and how it defines us in this captivating book that combines memoir, investigatory interviews, and practical application.
Grappling with his own decision of whether to retire, Lopez uses his reporter skills not only to look inward but also to interview experts and peers to collect a variety of perspectives as he examines the true nature of a person’s time, identity, and ultimate life satisfaction.
In Independence Day, Lopez talks to those who have chosen to extend their working life to its (il)logical extreme--people like Mel Brooks, still working at 94--those who have happily retired and reinvented themselves outside of the constraints of work, and those who would like to retire but can't because of financial constraints. He also turns to professionals on the matter, like two aging scientists, a geriatric specialist, and a psychiatrist, to understand the research-based reasons to retire.
With his trademark poignancy, wisdom, and humor, Lopez establishes a useful polemic for himself and others in planning ahead, as he also evaluates questions of identity, financial limitations, and ultimately what to do with your life when the obituary pages are no longer filled with strangers.
Steve Lopez
Steve Lopez has been a Los Angeles Times columnist since 2001 and is a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary. He is the author of three novels, two collections of columns, and the New York Times bestseller and winner of the PEN USA Literary Award for Nonfiction, The Soloist. Additionally, Lopez's television reporting for public station KCET has won three local news Emmys and a share of the Columbia University DuPont Award.
Related to Independence Day
Related audiobooks
How to Retire and Not Die: The 3 Ps That Will Keep You Young Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Younger Next Year, 2nd Edition: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy, and Smart-Until You're 80 and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What the Happiest Retirees Know: 10 Habits for a Healthy, Secure, and Joyful Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living a Purposeful Retirement: How to Bring Happiness and Meaning to Your Retirement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?: The Path of Purposeful Aging Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoar: into the second half of your life (before it's too late) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFood, We Need to Talk: The Science-Based, Humor-Laced Last Word on Eating, Diet, and Making Peace with Your Body Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Five Years Before You Retire: Retirement Planning When You Need It the Most Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future of Us: The Science of What We'll Eat, Where We'll Live, and Who We'll Be Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEightysomethings: A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Weeks to a Sharper You: A Guided Program Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tabula Rasa: Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Money for the Rest of Us: 10 Questions to Master Successful Investing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Long Bright Future: An Action Plan for a Lifetime of Happiness, Health, and Financial Security Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life's Third Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Season with Mom: Love, Loss, and the Ultimate Baseball Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Retirement Stepping Stones: Find Meaning, Live with Purpose, and Leave a Legacy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sociopath: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Independence Day
13 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I embark on the "retirement" road, this book looked interesting. It gave me some good ideas and view points but I came to realize that after working for my self for the last 20 years, I am very much a self starter and if I am interested in something I give a go. I am just changing my focus of responsibilities and interests. Life is good. I wish we could come up with a better word than retirement, it sounds like going to sleep and dying. It is a change from paid to unpaid work and hopefully more options. Everyone I know, including myself, are busier and more active than ever now that we are "not being paid to do something".