The Fourth Quarter of Your Life: Embracing What Matters Most Paperback – December 29, 2022

Easy read…includes thought invoking exercises that wouldn’t have just crossed my mind otherwise.I’m only 60: but this provides perspective and considerations for moving forward with intention and goals.

Challenges one to think and act purposefully.Aids in creating a 4th quarter game plan…while one can.Highly recommend the read.

Hadn't read anything from this author before and wasn't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. A good quick read (if you don't take the time to do the exercises) with some homework included along the way. While I had/have reflected on several of the author's themes over the past 65 years, the book is structured in a way to assist/guide others who may just be starting their 'reflective' time. Would certainly recommend to others and thank my friend for pointing me to this and the other two books by the same author.

Great book. Great message.

The intent of this book is deeply practical. In brief, a call to “take stock”. It is written for individuals traveling north (61-80 and beyond). What the authors call “the fourth quarter”. This book is a call to face the reality that life is short. A call for great inner honesty. A call to name and to act on your “short list” priorities. A call to come to terms with finitude, death, faith. Really, all the big questions in a lived life. The authors invite us to be “pilgrims, not tourists”, and go deep and figure out what gives coherence to a well lived life. I applaud the two authors intentions here. I applaud their deep beliefs. Their Faith shapes and informs their thinking, their “5 keys” philosophy and approach. The authors are smart and accomplished and they write from the heart. Not arcane or academic. In fact, the common thread in this book is acting each day with faith and intentionality. To be explicit, this is not really a book. More a resource for journaling. A handbook as such for taking stock. As a book per se, it is weak. Thus, my average rating (3). The authors go wide but not deep. In that respect, this book is underwritten. In particular, the tasks of mapping your life story (chapters 14-16) are thin. That terrain and also how to work through regrets is vastly more complicated and more difficult to do than their book suggests. Those tasks require more in depth discussion. Maybe a separate book. Require more guiding ideas to help the reader make sense of their experience and both see what was not visible before and do the needed reparative work. You can’t change the past but the past can be redeemed through faith and inner discipline and moments of grace present in a life. My sense, overall, is the 40 short chapters in this book speak to large and important questions. Many readers will find these short chapters helpful. My sense is our answers to the reflective questions in this book and our acting with greater intentionality is what counts, not the depth and robustness of the book. Well worth working through the “taking stock” questions in this book.

Recommended by Ph.D. philosophy, theological, mental healthcare providers and educators for all adults, in whichever phase along life’s journey. Found to be excellent, thoughtful discussion resource for our men’s Bible study group, as well as for any individual adult’s contemplation.

Turning 60 is no joke! Lots of thoughts, feelings and regrets. This book puts it all in the right perspective. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed reading this book. It is full of wisdom and all the things we should be thinking about in the fourth quarter season. Definitely left me with much to consider.