Triumphs of Experience

Started in the late 1930s, the study followed 268 male students as they "adjusted themselves to life, adjusted life to themselves." Connecting deeply to the significance of each of these lives, Don Hagen delivers a resonant narration that holds attention, even when the book's sprawling content loses momentum. His appealing tone and relaxed pitch modulations give this audiobook the type of power it needs to deliver the life lessons offered by the study participants, who are now in their 90s. Though the men studied represent a limited slice of the socioeconomic spectrum, the study offers memorable lessons on the enduring effects of such factors as nurturing and disruptive childhoods, lifelong alcohol abuse, health and relationship habits prior to age 50, and character problems as they play out in intimate relationships. T.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine