Top books on aging range from “King Lear” to “Tuesdays With Morrie.”

Call us old-fashioned, but at Chapter Two we have a fondness for the printed word. And when a book excites us, we tell people about it. In coming blogs look for our book recommendations on a wide range of subjects: aging, marketing, neuroscience, branding, behavioral economics, and more. We hope you’ll share your comments and pass along recommendations of your own. Read and enjoy.

“The Mature Mind,” by Gene D. Cohen (2005)
This book reverses, and sets right, the notion that old age equals cognitive degeneration. The most remarkable nugget is that older people’s brains create new neurons every time they form a new neural network. In this small treasure, Cohen easily refutes several thousand years of thinking.

“The View From 80,” by Malcolm Cowley (1976)
This short book started as a Life magazine article and is one of the first to describe what it means to be in “the country of age.” “Nobody,” Cowley correctly states, “knows the country until he has lived in it.”

“The Ageless Spirit,” edited by Connie Goldman (1992)
This book is a series of interviews with some well-spoken elders (from Steve Allen to Stanley Kunitz), who do a very good job of explaining the transcendent feelings of old age. Connie Goldman, longtime NPR commentator and a keen listener, does the interviews.

“How We Die,” by Sherwin B. Nuland (1993)
This is a beautiful book about perspective, what your perspective is based on, and how it is changed by life and experience. In this case, a dying brother.

“When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple,” by Jenny Joseph (1997)
What was once a shout of defiance, this short poem (voted England’s favorite poem) has become a statement of how life should be lived when you’re older. This poem gave life to that wonderful group of older women known as “The Red Hat Ladies.”

“Tuesdays With Morrie,” by Mitch Albom (2002)
An aging teacher and a young sportswriter get together every Tuesday to create a thoroughly ageless conversation. Their differences disappear quickly, and their common values become a bridge between two generations.

“King Lear,” by William Shakespeare
A brilliantly understated contrast between young, (“who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out”) and old (taking upon “the mastery of things”). We’ve all been Cordelia and some day, hopefully, we all will be Lear.

“Old Age,” by Helen M. Luke (1987)
Some people grow into old age and some people just fall into it. This elegant little book is for people who like to give the subject a lot of thought (from Shakespeare to Jung).

“The Spectator Bird,” by Wallace Stegner (1976)
What does it mean to be in your sixties? What does it mean to be the outsider? To feel your self-esteem diminishing? To know that society has the “drilling capacity” to look straight at you and never see you? Meet Joe Allston, a retired literary agent who is dragged from his perch as a spectator bird and tries to create a sense of belonging for himself.

“How Starbucks Saved My Life,” by Michael Gates Gill (2007)
A Madison Avenue executive gets booted off the avenue just as he is entering the second half of life. His life changes, his work changes, his values change — and he grows into the kind of man that gives old age a good name. Lovely book.