George Vaillant: 4 books

In our current era of holy terror, passionate faith has come to seem like a present danger. Writers such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens have been happy to throw the baby out with the bathwater and declare that the danger is in religion itself. God, Hitchens writes, is not...

In an unprecedented series of studies, Harvard Medical School has followed 824 subjects -- men and women, some rich, some poor -- from their teens to old age. Harvard's George Vaillant now uses these studies -- the most complete ever done anywhere in the world -- and the subjects' individual histories...

At a time when people are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers welcome news for old age: our lives evolve in our later years and often become more fulfilling. Among the surprising findings: people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa.

「年老如果是一種創作，我們都正在提筆書寫。」我確實是這樣相信，而且也確實是這樣實踐。以創作的心情迎接七十歲的到來，反而充滿了期待。而在期待之際，正好顯示自己還是擁有夢想。 ——陳芳明（政治大學講座教授） 史上最長80年哈佛研究，追蹤個案超過800人...