Memos from Midlife: 24 Parables of Adult Adjustment

“... It’s the most entertaining book I’ve read this year.”
— Steve Chapman, Columnist and Editorial Writer, The Chicago Tribune

There are no pretentious pronouncements about public policy or dry conclusions from social science in these pages ... because it is a report from what Frank Zimring calls “my second career, and everybody else’s second career, the hard work of becoming an adult in the modern world.”

Why is a piranha swimming in your pool a better illustration of how people get over-committed than a giant man eating shark? (Consult chapter 3.) What should you say when your eight-year-old asks whether you would save him or his sister if the lifeboat only had room for one? (See chapter 5.) Why are professors who hate to teach at their home campus positively lustful when invited to lecture somewhere else? (Chapter 11 explains.) When you finally succeed in giving up cigarettes, how should you feel about those who still smoke? (See chapter 2.) Why do so many of the people lined up to visit world famous landmarks look so unhappy to be there? (Chapter 20 reveals the secret.)
“Frank Zimring has gained renown as a penetrating thinker and a tireless scholar, but Memos from Midlife reveals what his friends have always known: He is also a charming and thought-provoking companion with a devilish sense of humor. Addressing a range of unconventional topics, from ‘the arrogance of nostalgia’ to Portnoy’s real complaint, he provides both illumination and fun, as well as guidance on living wisely and well. It’s the most entertaining book I’ve read this year.”
— Steve Chapman, Columnist and Editorial Writer, The Chicago Tribune
A new collection of compelling and humorous essays, in the Journeys & Memoirs Series from Quid Pro Books.

Franklin E. Zimring is the William G. Simon Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or coauthor of many books on topics including deterrence, the changing legal world of adolescence, capital punishment, the scale of imprisonment, and drug control. Such books include The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment (voted a Book of the Year by The Economist), The City That Became Safe: New York's Lessons For Urban Crime and Its Control, and Choosing The Future For American Juvenile Justice.