Come of Age cover art

Come of Age

The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble

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Come of Age

By: Stephen Jenkinson, Charles Eisenstein - foreword
Narrated by: Stephen Jenkinson
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About this listen

In his landmark provocative style, Stephen Jenkinson makes the case that we must birth a new generation of elders, one poised and willing to be true stewards of the planet and its species.

Come of Age does not offer tips on how to be a better senior citizen or how to be kinder to our elders. Rather, with lyrical prose and incisive insight, Stephen Jenkinson explores the great paradox of elderhood in North America: how we are awash in the aged and yet somehow lacking in wisdom; how we relegate senior citizens to the corner of the house while simultaneously heralding them as sage elders simply by virtue of their age. Our own unreconciled relationship with what it means to be an elder has yielded a culture nearly bereft of them. Meanwhile, the planet boils, and the younger generation boils with anger over being left an environment and sociopolitical landscape deeply scarred and broken.

Taking on the sacred cow of the family, Jenkinson argues that elderhood is a function rather than an identity - it is not a position earned simply by the number of years on the planet or the title “parent” or “grandparent”. As with his seminal book Die Wise, Jenkinson interweaves rich personal stories with iconoclastic observations that will leave listeners radically rethinking their concept of what it takes to be an elder and the risks of doing otherwise. Part critique, part call to action, Come of Age is a love song inviting us - imploring us - to elderhood in this time of trouble. That time is now. We’re an hour before dawn, and first light will show the carnage, or the courage, we bequeath to the generations to come.

©2018 Stephen Jenkinson (P)2018 Stephen Jenkinson
Aging & Longevity Aging Parent Anthropology Gerontology Personal Development Relationships Religious Studies Rage

Critic Reviews

“This isn’t a book, it’s an agitation. A glorious rumination that gets inside words themselves and tugs adroitly at their root system, part of a wider exfoliation that holds subtle ideas close, lest they disappear in all this mud, smoke, and darkness. This isn’t a book, it’s a kind of divining, the rare breed that can leave the scriber harrowed and the reader blessed. This isn’t a book, it’s a murmuration, erudite wonderings that have wingspan and wit, turning suddenly and with elegance over the trembling acreage of our lives.” (Dr. Martin Shaw, author of Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia)

“Jenkinson does not blame, indict, nor traffic in solution, rather he elders - with an immense love of life and the world - the long redemptive road where young and old might yet recognize each other and decide to take a little walk. Come of Age has so much respect for your willingness to pick it up that it will ask more of you than you ever thought possible; an unlikely and precious gift that may just change everything.” (Sean Aiken, author of The One-Week Job Project)

“We live in deeply troubled times. The biosphere is collapsing, the economy sputtering, and the mania for the ever-new continues its siren song. To whom and to what can young people turn that might still yet stand in the face of the storm? Enter Come of Age - a raucous and grief-soaked tangle through the annals of history, language, etymology, and, above all, a deep love of life. With fierce prose and unrelenting compassion, Stephen Jenkinson makes the case for elderhood in a time desperate for the wisdom that accrues to those willing to be aged, who are willing to know limitation and deep service to the ending of days.” (Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker, Occupy Love and Amplify Her)

What listeners say about Come of Age

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Read twice!

It takes a very special book for me to read it twice and this is one of them! it goes for 30 hours too, so it was no small undertaking. =)

I actually just saw the author last night, doing a talk to promote the book, and it was an immense pleasure and privilege. He is such an incredible person, it would be hard to know where to start describing him or his fine work.

The subject of matter of the book is fascinating and needed now, taken deeply and reverently and with real, full-ranging Wonder, which includes a 'solutionless lament' where so many books try to fill our post-modern bellies with the promise of all-encompassing truth... but as Jenkinson said last night, knowing something does not make it true, and therein lies the rub.

I'm 37 and reading these hallowed pages was a certain relief to me, as it explained a longing for something unxplainedly lost and suggests that the Elder Function (not specific to any one individual) is something that responds to the search for and recognition of it, meaning that with attention and a spiraling back in what it means to belong for humanity, we may sing the Elders into our midst again, when we need them most.

I give heart-felt praise and thanks to Stephen Jenkinson.

P.S. if you haven't read his first book Die Wise, I would suggest you do that first.

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Just loved it. Language like poetry.

I could (and did) listen to certain parts repeatedly, really enjoying the language. That you so much.

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Deep listening.

Brilliantly wrought of story and a life lived awakened to that beyond what is readily known.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.