The Elderhostel Institute Network, www.elderhostel.org, the largest and most respected educational network for older adults in North America, is an incredible resource for those of us not quite ready to give up active learning. Those "perennial students" amongst us will find this book by the organization's director, Nancy Merz Nordstrom, helpful in their constant quest to "use it or lose it" It is a well-known fact that constant learning keeps our brains limber and active. And it may help stave off all kinds of serious problems such as dementia and Alzheimer's. In any case, it is fun to learn new things. Active involvement with other vitally interested and interesting individuals is also paramount in maintaining our social networking skills and making new friends.

This guide to lifetime learning opportunities reveals the limitless opportunities available to adults over 55. Elderhostel alone offers over 10,000 programs to over 200,000 adults every year. Of particular interest is their new program, "Road Scholar," a more hands-on experiential learning process than simple classroom lecture-based programs. It's absolutely impossible to list here all the incredible opportunities available in these reasonably priced, all-inclusive learning programs. But this book does a fine job of offering an overview of all the programs plus an extensive resource section for further information. What can be better than programs combining learning and travel opportunities with compatible friends?
--Escapee Magazine

Learning should be a lifelong project, according to the author of Learning Later, Living Greater, Nancy Nordstrom. She herself went back to school at the age of 51 for an masters degree and then pursued a new career.

She spells out three types of learning: learning in the classroom, through educational travel, and through community service. “Lifelong Learning expands your intellectual, social, spiritual and physical horizons,” she writes. In other words, mind can be the builder even at an age when it is expected to decline.

Nordstrom cites research that mental decline as we age is not automatic. Instead, it is entirely possible to grow new brain cells as old ones age, if we give ourselves the stimulation of challenges. Active lifelong learning can provide a “Learning Vaccine”, in the words of Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a researcher and author of “Brain Health and Wellness.”

In an interview, Nordstrom called “lifelong learning a health club for the mind, body and spirit.” She says medical science has begun to find evidence that the brain will grow, adapt and repair itself, if it is kept stimulated and challenged.

There are about 400,000 people involved in over 1000 formal lifelong learning programs now in the United States. These numbers will continue to grow as Baby Boomers retire.

Nordstrom’s book and website, learninglater.com, give tons of suggestions for meaningful volunteer work. Many new retirees are looking for more interesting volunteer assignments that have more responsibility.

Nordstrom lists ideas like: docent activities, sitting on boards, the Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity or local housing rehab projects, tutoring, business consulting such as with SCORE - or just playing job interviewer for a high-school or college student, ushering at symphony or other cultural events, hosting international students, story time lady at the library, and many more.

Besides promoting her book, Nordstrom’s other project these days is the Elderhostel Institute Network, which is the largest and most respected educational network geared to older adults. It lists 350 programs and also assists scholars studying learning and older adults. It is a network which you can tap to find learning programs across the U.S. It has a newsletter, and posts columns and articles online.

Travel, long touted for broadening the mind, is listed as a type of education. Elderhostel, established in 1975, is still the largest educational travel organization for older adults. See its website at Elderhostel.org for more information on programs and travel opportunities.

Nordstrom points out that those over the age of 50 or so generally have a void once child rearing is done, and this is where “lifelong learning can step in to fill the void. Being engaged in lifelong learning enlarges the scope of our interests, provides opportunities to meet new people, keeps us current and active, expands our horizons, and provides opportunities to develop new ideas and handle change.”

Lifelong Learning seems to fit the goal of “being good FOR something” and leads to a new sense of ourselves apart from family roles.
--newsvine.com; June 2007

Learning Later, Living Greater: The Secret for Making the Most of Your "After-50" Years, is the book that will introduce people over 50 to the ideas and benefits of lifelong learning. It will challenge them to become involved in meaningful new avenues of productivity: educational programs, travel, community service and more.

The author is Nancy Merz Nordstrom who directs the Elderhostel Institute Network for Elderhostel, Inc., North America's largest educational organization for older adults. The co-author is Jon F. Merz, a professional writer whose credits include several novels published by Kensington Publications Corp.

Learning Later, Living Greater will help older adults realize that lifelong learning can be a health club for their minds, their bodies and their spirits. It will be the guidebook for transforming their after-work years into a richly-satisfying period of personal growth and social involvement. They will actively "live" their retirement.

While there are countless other books that cover the subject of retirement, none addresses, in-depth, the vital aspect of lifelong learning. Learning Later, Living Greater thoroughly explores this topic. The book contains the latest in scientific research, useful information and suggestions, resources, interviews with other experts in the field, and inspiring first-person accounts of how lifelong learning has enriched lives. It also answers questions like:

Why is lifelong learning important for the aging brain?
How does lifelong learning help older adults create fulfilling lives for themselves and others?
What and where are the new and innovative lifelong learning programs?
Lifelong learning has the ability to create lasting and meaningful change in people's lives. This book is the catalyst for that change. It will help people realize that their later years have the potential to be the most exciting and most rewarding period of their existence.
--Retirement Living News, December 2006