From now until January 1, 2023, you can purchase any eBooks for boomers below at half price! This special sale is available only at Smashwords.com, where you can download the eBook in your choice of format, including Mobi (Kindle), ePUB and PDF.

To get 50% off every one of the books listed, simply click on the title. You'll go directly to a page where you can order the eBook at half price. This offer is only good until January 1, 2023, so order today!

Boomer Brands: Iconic Brands that Shaped Our Childhood

Regularly $4.99, now $2.49

This unique book is a stroll down memory lane, reminiscing about the beloved brands Boomers first met in the 50s and 60s. Brand maven Barry Silverstein shares “Boomer Brand Cameos” of over fifty of the brands Boomers grew up with: Disney, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Good Humor, Howard Johnson, Hush Puppies, MAD, Ovaltine, Twinkies, WIFFLE Ball and many more. Most of these brands began during the Boomer era and are still around. Plus, Boomers will gain rare insight into how these iconic brands shaped their childhood and have a lasting impact on their life. Boomer Brands is meant to be read by Boomers, shared with Boomers, and savored for the memories!

Boomer Brand Winners & Losers: 156 Best & Worst Brands of the 50s and 60s

Regularly $4.99, now $2.49

This remarkable book features fascinating stories of 156 best and worst brands of the Boomer era. Relive the days of Cap’n Crunch and Cocoa Puffs, E-Z Pop and Pop-Tarts, cap guns and comic books. Recall the time when automobiles ruled the road and a transistor radio was “advanced technology.” Learn how television played a key role in brand advertising. Discover which brands blossomed and which were a bust. Boomer Brand Winners & Losers is a wondrous walk down Memory Lane!

World War Brands: World War II and the Rise of the Modern American Brand

Regularly $5.99, now $2.99

This book traces the development of the American brand from World War I through the 1920s and 1930s. It then explores the interrelationship of World War II and American brands, showing how the war itself was "branded," how brand advertisers leveraged the war, and how the post-war economy helped birth the modern brand. Included are 38 vintage ads and scores of stories about some of the best-known brands of the '40s and '50s. The book also examines brands in the context of American post-war culture, moving from the war's end into the 1950s and 1960s. Many brands from this time have survived and thrived into the 21^st Century.

Let's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business

Regularly $6.99, now $3.49

By a baby boomer couple who start a small service business as a second career, this how-to guide covers planning, financing, outfitting, and launching a service business, as well as operations, marketing, sales, customer service, and managing growth. Included are useful tools to help couples assess their business interests and compatibility. Let’s Make Money, Honey is a must-read for Boomer couples, especially those exploring encore careers.

One of the symbols of ageism is the unwelcome image of a doddering, feeble and discombobulated old-timer. Scientific research suggests this could not be further from the truth.

A fascinating article written by two doctors and published last July in Cerebrum, sponsored by the private philanthropic organization Dana Foundation, cites research that most adults age successfully, and their aging brains are a large part of the reason why. Drs. Tanya Nguyen and Dilip Jeste write:

"As we grow older, our physical functioning declines, but our mental and social functioning tends to improve. ...Physical capacity and mental speed begin to decline around age 30, and even more noticeably after age 50. But not all mental functions deteriorate. 'Crystallized' cognitive skills at age 75 are roughly equivalent to those at age 20. These are the intellectual abilities based on the accumulation of knowledge, facts, skills, and experiences throughout life, such as verbal skills and inductive reasoning."

In citing a study conducted at the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging, Nguyen and Jeste report:

"...mental well-being improved in an almost linear fashion from age 20 until the 90s. Young adults in their 20s and 30s suffered the most from depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress. As the years progressed, most people felt they were aging successfully—a sense of well-being that includes attainment of goals, positive attitudes toward oneself and the future, social connectedness, and adaptation—despite worse physical functioning and social stresses. We saw this phenomenon not only in healthy older adults living in communities but also in those with and being treated for serious mental and medical illnesses, including schizophrenia, AIDS, and cancer."

Some of the most important brain research is in the area of neuroplasticity. According to Nguyen and Jeste:

"One of the most exciting developments in neuroscience during the past two decades is the discovery that our brain continues to evolve into old age through 'plasticity,' i.e., strengthening of existing synapses and formation of new ones, in the context of appropriate physical, cognitive, and psychosocial stimulation. ...People who stay active physically, cognitively, and socially tend to maintain their vocabulary, their ability to recognize events, objects, and people they’ve encountered before, and the motor skills learned during early childhood, such as swimming or bicycling. Their brains are likely to escape the atrophy that occurs in the brains of sedentary, lonely, inactive seniors."

Another intriguing aspect of the aging brain is in responding to emotions:

"This might explain the “positivity effect” of aging, a tendency to favor positive emotions and memories. Older people pay attention to and remember pleasurable and gratifying events better than sad, frightening, regrettable ones, whereas younger individuals retain positive and negative information equally well. It is as if young minds are like Velcro^® for negative experiences, and older minds like Teflon^®. Older adults more easily dispel feelings of disappointment, regret, and remorse, and worry less about events or issues they cannot change."

Perhaps this offers some reassurance that an aging brain is not a bad thing -- and aging isn't so bad either!

Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova, pexels.com 

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