The Vintage Years

"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.