Tough broad: from boogie boarding to wing walking--how outdoor adventure improves our lives as we age
Description
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Gutsy Girl, a funny, inspiring, deeply researched exploration into the science and psychology of the outdoors and our place in it as we age.Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure: From mountain biking in the Bolivian Andes to pitching a tent, mid-blizzard, on Denali, she has never been a stranger to the exhilaration the outdoors can hold. Yet through it all, she has long wondered, Why aren't women, like men, encouraged to keep adventuring into old age? Tough Broad is her quest to understand not just how to live a dynamic life in a changing body, but why we must. She dives deep into the current research on aging, and highlights the results with the stories of women like ninety-three-year-old hiker Dot Fisher-Smith, eighty-year-old scuba diver Louise Wholey, fifty-two-year-old BASE jumper Shawn Brokemond, sixty-four-year-old birdwatcher Virginia Rose, and the many septuagenarian Wave Chasers who boogie board together in the San Diego surf. These women aren't experts. But their experiences and the scientific studies that back them up offer important insight into our own physical and emotional health as we age, showing that growing older is no reason for women to sell themselves short. Tough Broad is a high-spirited call for women to embrace the outdoors, not back away from it, in our fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond, casting our own futures in a new and dazzling light
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Booklist Review
Homebodies, head outside. Paul (The Gutsy Girl, 2016) and her friends may be more adventurous than most sixtysomethings. But women who will never choose to plummet from a plane will nonetheless benefit from reading tales of derring-do and feeling inspired to spend more time in the awe-inducing outdoors. Paul makes a strong case for how a positive attitude about getting older can lead to a longer, healthier life. At 84, her mom says, "What I would give to be 60 again." As journalist and long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad said, "You are never too old to chase your dreams." Paul, who was one of the first women fire fighters in San Francisco, encourages other women to stay active and intrepid in their postmenopausal life, profiling older women who surf, hike, scuba dive, and explore. She recommends taking empowering walks in astonishing places like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. Women don't have to give in to age's changes; there's a big world out there to engage with and gain strength and pleasure from. Here's to being old, "game," and down for adventure.
Booklist Reviews
Homebodies, head outside. Paul (The Gutsy Girl, 2016) and her friends may be more adventurous than most sixtysomethings. But women who will never choose to plummet from a plane will nonetheless benefit from reading tales of derring-do and feeling inspired to spend more time in the awe-inducing outdoors. Paul makes a strong case for how a positive attitude about getting older can lead to a longer, healthier life. At 84, her mom says, "What I would give to be 60 again." As journalist and long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad said, "You are never too old to chase your dreams." Paul, who was one of the first women fire fighters in San Francisco, encourages other women to stay active and intrepid in their postmenopausal life, profiling older women who surf, hike, scuba dive, and explore. She recommends taking empowering walks in astonishing places like the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls. Women don't have to give in to age's changes; there's a big world out there to engage with and gain strength and pleasure from. Here's to being old, "game," and down for adventure. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.