Why Life Gets Better After Midlife with Jonathan Rauch

Does the thought of getting older make you anxious? Are you in your 30s, 40s or 50s and wonder if you've already hit your peak? Do not despair, Sisters. There is good news. Very good news.

In his book, The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, Jonathan Rauch does the extraordinary. He's gathered all the cutting-edge research about aging and happiness and his conclusion is this: Life gets better and we get happier as we age. The midlife slump is just that; a temporary slump that seems to disappear as we get older...and happier.

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and is the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book, published in 2021 by the Brookings Press, is The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, a spirited and deep-diving account of how to push back against disinformation, canceling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order. In 2018, he published The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, a lauded account of the surprising relationship between aging and happiness. And, of course, we couldn't wait to have him on to share his findings.

Abby and Julie also discuss the Adam Levine scandal. As sisters do.