Book excerpt: Ready to Retire? What You and Your Spouse Need to Know About The New Reality of Retirement Conceived and written for those about to retire - or already in retirement and the women (and men) who live with them. Ready to Retire? helps people understand what they and their partners are going through as they meet the new reality of life beyond the workplace. Cultural messaging has traditionally reinforced the idea of the man as bread winner and men have a particularly hard time making the retirement adjustment as they so often completely self-identify with their work. In light of this cultural trend, bestselling author and sociologist Lyndsay Green sets out to demystify retirement for men and their partners, and provides an engaging and uplifting portrait of the emotional landscape of men in their sixties and seventies. While most books on this subject focus on finances, Lyndsay Green writes more about the psychological implications of retirement. More descriptive than instructional, the book is based on interviews with over sixty people, from age 56 to 88, living in cities, small towns and rural areas. In spite of the fact that many men have a deep-rooted fear about retirement, and that so often their spouses can be baffled by their inability to express those fears and needs, Lyndsay Green discovered that the story of men’s retirement is mostly one of adjustment, revitalization and reinvention. Ready to Retire? is an inspiring portrait of the emotional lives of men who have retired or are considering retirement, and the women (and men) they live with.