Senescence, the Last Half of Life

By G Stanley Hall

When does later life become more than a period of decline? This searching nonfiction study distinguishes senescence from senectitude, examining old age not as a single condition but as a complex stage shaped by bodily change, mental adaptation, work, heredity and mortality. Psychology, medicine, biology, physiology, history and literature converge in an inquiry into how ageing develops-and what place older people may continue to hold within society. Retirement supplies the work with an unusually personal testing ground. A former university leader considers his withdrawal from institutional authority, changing health and domestic reorganisation, treating his own experience as a case study rather than a conventional autobiography. That perspective gives practical force to broader questions about retirement and ageing: how should bodily care alter, when should professional renunciation begin, and how can social usefulness survive the loss of an established role? Extensive citations, quotations, empirical reports and questionnaire analysis place individual experience beside wider evidence. Historical and cultural attitudes towards longevity, pensions, institutional care, religion, sexuality and death broaden the investigation beyond one life. Yet the argument remains directed towards preparation: middle life should anticipate old age, while later years should be cultivated as a distinct and socially useful phase rather than merely endured. Combining statistical evidence with self-examination, the study confronts both the limits of ageing and the functions that may remain within them. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9309330392
• ISBN13: 9789309330391
• Release Date: February 2027
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"