They break records and have the most unusual biographies. In his new book, the multi-award-winning photographer Karsten Thormaehlen tells of senior citizens like the 85-year-old »bungee junkie« Helmut Wirz, who has already taken the plunge over 100 times, or the 73-year-old race driver Connie Beavers, who catapults across American salt lakes on her motorcycle at 360 km/h. One of the major trends of the 21st century, ageing is increasingly a prime subject of social discourse: what to do with all those extra years we have been given? Where to invest all the unspent energy left over after reaching retirement age? Just how topical this issue is can be seen for example by the fact that the European Commission has declared 2012 to be the »Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations,« while the WHO is dedicating World Health Day 2012 to the theme of »Ageing and Health.« Thormaehlen’s contribution is to supply stories recounted in vivid and expressive photographs, brimming over with joie de vivre.

Authors: Horst Güntheroth, John Beard, Marc Peschke, Ute Blessing-Kapelke
Artists: Karsten Thormaehlen

Hardcover
22 x 30 cm
144 pages
81 color ills.
German/English
available
ISBN 978-3-86828-303-7
35 Euro
2012