Ken Stern

The ultimate guide to living a longer and healthier life from top longevity expert A revolutionary approach to longevity and ageing In many western countries, people complain of turning invisible after 50. When they hit their mid-60s, they expect or are forced to retire, cutting them adrift from social networks and leading to a loneliness epidemic. But it doesn't have to be this way. In Healthy to 100, Ken Stern uncovers the ground-breaking secrets of the winners in healthy longevity - countries like Singapore, Spain, Japan and South Korea - who are all top-rankers on the 'Healthy Longevity Index', the best measure not just of living long, but living long well. Bringing together the latest science of ageing and real-life stories, this book offers us a personal and societal guide to living a fulfilling life after 65- one where purpose, learning, community and intergenerational connection are the pillars of good health. Rather than advocating for special diets or exercise regimens, Healthy to 100 offers a hopeful, attainable and research-backed model for anyone seeking a longer, healthier and purpose-driven life.

An internationally recognized longevity and aging expert uncovers the secret to an enduring, thriving life: meaningful social connections Contrary to popular belief, the secret to living longer is not just about eating well, exercising, or getting regular checkups. Instead, successful aging depends on the nature of your relationships and your social connections. If you want to live a healthy and rewarding life, you need to start with social health. In Healthy to 100, longevity expert Ken Stern takes us on a journey to some of the longest-lived countries in the world--Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Spain--places that have achieved great advances in longevity by intentionally strengthening social connections. Science shows that physical and mental health outcomes are all improved by the intergenerational connectedness, sense of purpose, and respect enjoyed by older people in these countries. Their example offers us all a personal and societal guide for how we can better the second half of life. Weaving in surprising, colorful stories from around the world, Stern shows that the key to healthy longevity involves a mindset shift and purposeful building of social connections. Healthy to 100 offers a hopeful, attainable, research-backed model for anyone seeking a longer and healthier life.

Widening the dialogue begun with Strangers in Their Own Land and Hillbilly Elegy, a former NPR CEO and lifelong Democrat's chronicle of his immersion in Republicanism to understand his fellow Americans across the political divide.Ken Stern doesn't believe that our political world is as binary as either the elector map shows or pundits say. Extensive research has demonstrated that much of the partisan divide in our country is artificial, driven by media, campaign spending, and the increasing isolation of political communities. He believes that chasm can be bridged with a little listening, and a little human contact. To test his idea, the media executive stepped out of his liberal bubble and hit the road, traveling deep into "red" territory.For one year, he donned the mantle of Republicanism and spent time listening, talking, and praying with Republicans of all stripes--from neocons to traditionalists, fiscal conservatives to social conservatives, moderates to libertarians. With his mind open and his dial tuned to the right, he went looking for rationality, insight, and maybe even persuasion from conservatives across the land.Republican Like Me reveals what he found. Stern considers the issues that divide and inflame the left and right: immigration, gun control, abortion, the environment and global warming, elitism and the establishment, the government, the "makers" and the "takers," and attitudes toward gender and race. He introduces the people he met and the viewpoints and opinions he heard, and examines their impact on his own long-standing views.A look at the nation and politics beyond the headlines, Republican Like Me challenges assumptions and attitudes, and offers Americans of all stripes a road map for coming together.

Vast and largely unexamined, the world of American charities accounts for fully 10 percent of economic activity in this country, yet operates with little accountability, no real barriers to entry, and a stunning lack of evidence of effectiveness. In "With Charity for All," Ken Stern reveals a problem hidden in plain sight and prescribes a whole new way for Americans to make a difference. Each year, two thirds of American households donate to charities, with charitable revenues exceeding one trillion dollars. Yet while the mutual fund industry employs more than 150,000 people to rate and evaluate for-profit companies, nothing remotely comparable exists to monitor the nonprofit world. Instead, each individual is on his or her own, writing checks for a cause and going on faith. Ken Stern, former head of NPR and a long-time nonprofit executive, set out to investigate the vast world of U.S. charities and discovered a sector hobbled by deep structural flaws. Unlike private corporations that respond to market signals and go out of business when they fail, nonprofit organizations have a very low barrier to entry (the IRS approves 99.5 percent of applications) and once established rarely die. From water charities aimed at improving life in Africa to drug education programs run by police officers in thousands of U.S. schools, and including American charitable icons such as the Red Cross, Stern tells devastating stories of organizations that raise and spend millions of dollars without ever cracking the problems they set out to solve. But he also discovered some good news: a growing movement toward accountability and effectiveness in the nonprofit world. "With Charity for All" is compulsively readable, driven in its early pages by the plight of millions of Americans donating to good causes to no good end, and in its last chapters by an inspiring prescription for individual giving and widespread reform.