Toolkit
Going Deeper by Session
WHYZMEN · REWIRE RETIREMENT · REFERENCE Go Deeper by Session The few books worth your time after each session, and why |
Every session ends with a reading slide: recommended reading first, then Going Deeper, which is always optional. This page keeps the best of the Going Deeper lists in one place, two to four books per session, with one line on why each is worth your time. Nothing here is assigned. The full list of more than two hundred titles, rated and sorted by theme, is the Complete Bibliography in this tab.
How to choose: read the book that answers the question the session left you with. One book read is worth more than five books bought.
SESSION 1 · Basecamp | |
Recommended that week: What You Will Lose When You Retire (Dan Haylett) · The 4 Phases of Retirement (Riley Moynes, 11-minute video or written summary) · Program Overview · Summary of Falling Upward (Richard Rohr) | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ The Four Phases of Retirement — Riley Moynes | The book behind the video: names the passage you’re living, so the hard middle phase stops feeling like failure. |
★★☆ Joyspan — Kerry Burnight | A geriatric psychologist on thriving, not just lasting, in the second half. The parked pages in your guide come from it. |
SESSION 2 · Who Am I When I’m Not What I Do? | |
Recommended that week: No new reading. Bring one sentence from the Falling Upward summary (Session 1) · Practice of the Week | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ Falling Upward — Richard Rohr | The program’s spine: why the second half asks for a different life, not more of the first. |
★★★ The Second Mountain — David Brooks | From the self-made first mountain to the committed second one: the other half of the program’s frame. |
★★★ From Strength to Strength — Arthur C. Brooks | Why success fades, and what grows in its place: wisdom, relationships and faith. |
★★☆ Transitions — William Bridges | Endings, the neutral zone, new beginnings: the map for the messy middle. |
SESSION 3 · The Messy Middle | |
Recommended that week: The Two Halves of Life: Reader’s Companion · Couples Conversation Guide & Worksheet | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ Life Is in the Transitions — Bruce Feiler | Lifequakes, and the tools people actually use to get through them. |
★★☆ Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life — James Hollis | The case that the second half is when a man finally grows up. |
WhyzMen companions: Feiler Companion · Hollis Reference Note | |
SESSION 4 · The Marriage It Lands In | |
Recommended that week: McAdams Appendix · Allender Reference | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ Crafting a Rule of Life — Stephen A. Macchia | Session 4’s practice at book length: a trellis for the life you want. |
★★★ Atomic Habits — James Clear | How a new practice survives an ordinary Tuesday. |
★★☆ Sacred Marriage — Gary Thomas | What if marriage is meant to make us holy more than happy? A Christian classic for the season when a couple suddenly shares every hour. |
WhyzMen companions: Rule of Life (Reading 1) · Go Deeper Reading Guide: Rule of Life & Atomic Habits · The Life Story Interview II (Dan McAdams, free online) | |
SESSION 5 · Co-Author and Protagonist | |
Recommended that week: Narrative Identity (McAdams) · Why We Write Our Story · Allender Reference · Adler Reference | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ To Be Told — Dan B. Allender | Reading your life as a story God is still writing. |
★★☆ The Stories We Live By — Dan P. McAdams | The psychologist who showed that the story you tell about your life shapes the life. |
★☆☆ Opening Up by Writing It Down — James W. Pennebaker & Joshua M. Smyth | Why writing about hard things helps: the research behind your story work. |
SESSION 6 · Read My Story | |
Recommended that week: Genesis 50:20 | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★☆ Designing a Meaningful Second Half — WhyzMen reading (Dave Evans) | Joseph’s way of reading a hard chapter, plus five design principles for the second half. About 20 minutes. |
★★★ Designing Your Life, ch. 2 — Bill Burnett & Dave Evans | “Building a Compass”: a workview and a lifeview that point the same way. |
★★☆ Dare to Lead, pp. 185–197 — Brené Brown | The values exercise that Session 7 builds on. |
SESSION 7 · The Values Compass | |
Recommended that week: CliftonStrengths Top 5 (assessment) · your VIA top 5 | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★☆ Life’s Great Question — Tom Rath | From your strengths to how you contribute: a free profile, more with the book. |
★★★ The Power of Character Strengths — Ryan M. Niemiec & Robert E. McGrath | The twenty-four VIA strengths, one by one: your results in depth. |
SESSION 8 · The Strengths Portrait | |
Recommended that week: No new reading. Naming the Gift is the work. | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★☆ StrengthsFinder 2.0 — Tom Rath | The thirty-four themes behind your CliftonStrengths results. |
★★★ From Strength to Strength, ch. 2 — Arthur C. Brooks | Fluid to crystallized intelligence: why your best strengths may still be ahead. |
★★☆ A Long Bright Future — Laura L. Carstensen | Why people grow more focused on what matters as they age. |
WhyzMen companions: The Caring Shift (essay on Carstensen’s research) · Fink’s Six Dimensions (why thinking deeper isn’t the same as being changed) | |
SESSION 9 · The Ground Beneath Me | |
Recommended that week: No new reading. The Harvest was the work. | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ Renovation of the Heart (introduction) — Dallas Willard | How a life is actually formed in Christ, not just informed. |
★★★ The Call — Os Guinness | Calling as the reason you exist, not your job description. |
★★★ Half Time, ch. 1–3 — Bob Buford | The success-to-significance turn, written by a businessman for businessmen. |
★★★ Falling Upward, Part Two — Richard Rohr | What holds when the container breaks. |
WhyzMen companions: Why the Second Half Needs Its Own Faith · Life Lessons Harvest Worksheet (Charter Appendix A) · Ephesians 2:10 study note | |
SESSION 10 · The Fellowship Gap & Finding Your Circle | |
Recommended that week: The Listening Kit · Marriage Listening Card · Three Good Things: Break Practice Guide · Also: Making Another Person Feel Seen · Building Friendships in Retirement | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ How to Know a Person — David Brooks | Illuminators and diminishers: the listening your triad runs on. |
★★★ Connect — David Bradford & Carole Robin | From good to exceptional friendship: one level deeper, and how to tell a friend the truth. |
★★☆ Friends — Robin Dunbar | The layers, the seven pillars, and why friendship needs feeding. |
★★☆ The Good Life — Robert Waldinger & Marc Schulz | Eighty-five years of Harvard research: relationships keep us healthy. |
WhyzMen companions: Listening Well · Building New Relationships After Retirement · Who Are Your Five? · The Communication & Relationships Toolkit | |
Then the Wilderness Between (three weeks): no new reading. The Three Good Things: Break Practice Guide carries you through.
SESSION 11 · Mission & True North | |
Recommended that week: Clearness Room: Triad Guide | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★☆ The Path — Laurie Beth Jones | Writing a mission statement for work and for life, step by step. |
★★★ Designing Your Life, ch. 8 — Bill Burnett & Dave Evans | Prototyping: testing a calling before you commit to it. |
★☆☆ Wishful Thinking — Frederick Buechner | Short entries, including his definition of vocation as the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger. |
WhyzMen companions: Anthony Burrow on purpose (ReadDeeper summary) · Three Myths of Mentoring (Adam Grant, ReadDeeper summary) | |
SESSION 12 · Building the Vision | |
Recommended that week: A Tuesday in 2031: the exemplar · The Flourishing Signs · The Ten Domains card | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ How to Live Forever — Marc Freedman | Why the second half finds much of its meaning in investing in the next generation. |
★★★ From Strength to Strength, ch. 5–6 — Arthur C. Brooks | What to build toward when achievement no longer satisfies. |
★★☆ Joyspan — Kerry Burnight | Thriving in the second half, as a picture you can live into. |
★★☆ Bloom’s Taxonomy Explained — WhyzMen companion | Why your Charter is a Level 6 document: the morning it turns from naming to authoring. Pairs with Fink at Session 8. |
SESSION 13 · The Essential Few and First Steps | |
Recommended that week: No new reading. Carry the card. | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★☆ Essentialism — Greg McKeown | The disciplined pursuit of less: the backbone of this session. |
★★☆ Tiny Habits — BJ Fogg | Make it tiny, anchor it to something you already do, and celebrate: how this week’s first steps become habits. |
★☆☆ Subtract — Leidy Klotz | Why we add when we should take away. |
★★☆ Range, ch. 1 — David Epstein | Why a wide life is an advantage, not a distraction. |
WhyzMen companions: Essentialism Companion · Behavioral Checklist | |
SESSION 14 · Legacy & Letters | |
Recommended that week: No new reading. Write the letter. | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ Ethical Wills — Barry K. Baines | The practical guide to putting your values on paper for the people who come after you. |
★★☆ So That Your Values Live On — Jack Riemer & Nathaniel Stampfer | Real ethical wills to learn from, without putting words in your mouth. |
WhyzMen companions: Writing an Ethical Will · Charter Appendix K | |
SESSION 15 · Commissioning & Send-Off | |
Recommended that week: No homework. Choose your shelf. | |
Going deeper | Why read it |
★★★ The Blessing — Gary Smalley & John Trent | The five elements of a blessing that shaped this morning’s commissioning. |
The Unfinished Shelf: name one book or appendix for the next 90 days (Charter §3.4). The WhyzMen Dozen in the Complete Bibliography is a good place to start. | |
Wise Men Seek, Knowing Their Why’s