The Vintage Years

Only recently have neuropsychologists and other scientists confirmed that age sixty and beyond may be the best time in life to take up an art form like writing, playing a musical instrument or a visual art like painting, sculpting or ceramics. Not only does the brain continue to grow new connections and become more efficient but wisdom amassed over the years enhances the expression of art. Add to that increased focus made possible by lifestyle changes and you have the ingredients for more satisfying, meaningful and creative Vintage Years. This fun-to-read book inspires, entertains and provides strategies to shape a vibrant future.

"The Vintage Years: Finding Your Inner Artist (Writer, Musician, Visual Artist) After Sixty," takes a positive look at the post 55 phase of life, according to author Francine Toder, Ph.D. Her research into the factors that increase brain, body and psychological fitness, shows that our lives can be supercharged through the fine arts. Recent discoveries in neuroscience confirm that the brain even beyond age sixty, if it’s fed a diet of complexity, newness and problem solving, can continuously develop throughout life. Whether writing short stories, learning to play music, or painting landscapes, the brain and psyche benefit. Ironically, lifestyle and natural changes in brain and hormonal functioning beyond age sixty actually facilitate mastery of the fine arts in ways that elude younger people. Dr. Toder’s newest book delves into the latest brain science findings in everyday terms while also opening a window into the lives of more than twenty late-blooming artists who first took up the violin, memoir writing, or other artistic pursuits after they turned sixty. While some were motivated by curiosity, others desired to realize a previously unmet dream. Their stories inspire and validate Toder’s findings. "The Vintage Years" eBook includes in-depth interviews, research findings, end-notes, artist’s photos and samples of interviewed writers’ work. It also includes a "Call to Action" section that provides a way to think about the reader’s journey by cueing their memory and preferred everyday behaviors through a series of questions to serve as a guide and help create some strategies that lead to action.

Francine Toder, Ph.D., is an emeritus faculty member of California State University Sacramento and is a clinical psychologist recently retired from private practice. She is also the author of "When Your Child Is Gone: Learning to Live Again" (Ballantine, 1986) and "Your Kids Are Grown: Moving On With and Without Them" (Plenum Press, 1996) both critically acclaimed. Her extensive writing on diverse topics has appeared in magazines, professional journals, and edited-book chapters. Her work on "The Vintage Years" book (hardcover, 2013; eBook 5/2014) suggests that the fine arts may be the best way to stimulate the brain and enhance well-being past sixty, according to recent neuroscience research. After more than forty years devoted to her profession she's taken up the cello, continues to write and feels passionately about The Vintage Years - beginning around age sixty, when new choices and life-styles make possible new personal exploration, learning and expression.