Late Bloomers

I just finished Late Bloomers and part of me thinks I've been punked. It's full of just the kind of light journalistic reportage from interviews with big names and insights pulled from books by authors and researches of greater notoriety than Karlgaard that provide outstanding fodder for buzzkills and critics who will no doubt find room to detest it.

The thing is, this book touched me in some surprising ways. First, Karlgaard himself is at the helm of one of the biggest purveyors of youth-addled mania at Forbes that you might just find this topic coming from him a tad disingenuous. Fascinatingly, he's overcome that in his presentation by building a case for the nonsense systems that we — the human organism ‘we' — have put in place to as a direct obstacle to our own next gen. He does it convincingly, both supporting his assessment with just the right big names, and blisteringly compelling narrative that riles.

Second, I truck naturally with his use of metaphor. This whole concept of replanting, and the dandelion versus orchid, these are conceits that I can see so closely mirrored in my own life that I find myself thinking about them as I drift off... night, after night.

Finally, this is a Big Deal™. As a member of this population that has been working so hard to find peace by slowing down, it's deeply gratifying to find someone in the space willing to write a supportive text designed to celebrate the craft of opting out of the race. I enjoyed it.