We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.

“What to do with old books is a quandary that collectors, no matter what age, eventually face — or leave to their heirs who, truly, do not want the bulk of them. Old volumes are a problem for older Americans downsizing or facing mortality, with their reading life coming to a close.”

the National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers® blog

‘They’re more like friends than objects,’ one passionate bookseller says. What are we to do with our flooded shelves?

By Karen Heller, The Washington Post, December 19, 2022

(Eliana Rodgers for The Washington Post)

On a recent weekday afternoon, Bruce Albright arrives in the Wonder Book parking lot,pops the trunk of his Camry and unloads two boxes of well-worn books. “It’s sad. Some of these I’ve read numerous times,” he says.

Albright, 70, has been at this for six months, shedding 750 books at his local library and at this Frederick, Md., store. The rub: More than 1,700 volumes remain shelved in the retired government lawyer’s nearby home, his collection lovingly amassed over a half-century.

But Albright is on a mission. “I cleaned out my parents’ home,” he says. “I don’t want to do to my kids what my parents did to me.”

He’s far from alone. Books…

View original post 1,782 more words

Restoring a House for Every Body

“Marc looked at everything through the eyes of the disabled body, and he believed if he solved the issues for a disabled person, he would have solved the issues for everyone”

the National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers® blog

Half a century ago, Marc Harrison built a prototype for a home that would accommodate people of all ages and abilities. Now his daughter has restored it.

Tony Luong for The New York Times

By Penelope Green, January 29, 2023, The New York Times

In the early 1970s, when the house was built, it must have seemed like something from another planet. With its rounded, porthole-style windows and doors and its bubble skylights, it would have looked less like a home than a spaceship that had landed in the woods of northwestern Rhode Island, in a small town called Foster.

And in some ways, the structure was equally futuristic. A collaboration between Marc Harrison, an industrial designer, and his students at the Rhode Island School of Design, it was a showcase for what is now known as universal design — a place where people of all ages and abilities could be…

View original post 2,029 more words

Rx: Laughter

Photo: Dan Cook/Unsplash. Ha ha ha ha ha. Back in the 1990s, I had a stint as the editor of a publication called Minnesota Physician, where I interviewed a local physician who referred to himself as “the laugh doctor.” He convinced me that even forcing yourself to laugh can create endorphins in your body that […]

Rx: Laughter

“Laughter’s positive psychological and physiological responses include lessening depression and anxiety symptoms, increasing feelings of relaxation, improving cardiovascular health, releasing endorphins that boost mood and even increasing tolerance for pain.”

Sleep & Loneliness

Humans are a social species and the deficit in social relationships may increase the risks of morbidity and mortality – either objective or perceived. This clearly shows the importance of social connections to our health and well-being. It’s not surprising that isolation and loneliness have been linked to high blood pressure, or increased risks of […]

Sleep & Loneliness

To Teach Empathy, Try Theater

Photo: Dea Andreea/Unsplash. When a child is in a play, she can see what it’s like to be someone else for a while. You don’t really need a reason to justify doing theater with children. It is just so much fun. But if you need a reason, think about what theater-engendered empathy and active listening […]

To Teach Empathy, Try Theater