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Title: Wise Up!
Sub-title: How to be fearless and fulfilled in midlife
Author: Lindsey Dawson
Publisher: Random House
Number of pages: 241
Paperback

In her latest book Lindsey Dawson (magazine editor and author) has drawn on the life experiences of the well known, and the not so well known, to inspire, illustrate, educate and challenge those of us mid-way on this journey called life. Peppered throughout with quotes, notes, references and referrals “Wise Up!” is as much a helping hand as it is a celebration of who we are and a pat on the back for getting this far.

Covering the myriad of events that shape us; the good, the bad and the ugly, this book visits, in ways both personal and subjective, the welcome (if only in hindsight), the feared and the joyous moments. These range from death, illness, divorce and being fired to birth, marriage, career changes and the challenges and rewards of stepping outside one’s comfort zone. No stone is left unturned.

Aimed at the mid lifers (40-60 years of age according to the author and the back-up statistics) Wise Up! proved to be a refreshing and useful take on the “how to ...” genre of the 1970’s; I can say this as someone who in their early 30’s somewhat overdosed herself on the latest batch of self help books - aka Bridget Jones.

While this book will appeal to women, men receive plenty of mention both in their stories and their professional input and, as is so often the case, true life stories resonate regardless of gender when they are told simply, with honesty and candour.

The style of Wise Up! is as much a sharing of stories as it is an educational and tutorial guide, each chapter closing with relevant books and websites for the content covered along with ‘boxed’ asides within each chapter itself. Those however I found somewhat distracting from the main text, as I did the references to further mentions of a contributor later in the book. While not being nearly as annoying as ad breaks in a good movie I found it proved irritating all the same and somewhat reminiscent of reading a magazine style layout; no coincidence perhaps given this is the author’s historical career forte.

If you are inspired by the ways in which people around us live ordinary lives doing extraordinary things and you have some belief that you are one of these people then Wise Up! will entertain you, get you thinking and leave you up, not down. It will also, as I am sure the author intended, reinforce the notion that you have come a long way and that you still have a great journey ahead regardless of whether you are 40 or 60; or 60 plus.