Seasons of Life

by John Kotre and Elizabeth Hall

Published 1 October 1990
A tie-in to the PBS television and radio series of the same name, "Seasons of Life" shows the saga of personal human development in its five major stages: infancy and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood, presenting the insights emerging from research in psychology, biology, anthropology and sociology. All human life, the authors tell us, is governed by three developmental "clocks" - a biological clock, the timeline our bodies follow, a social clock, the age norms dictated by family and society, and a psychological clock, each individual's unique sense of timing. These clocks tick in the background all through life's seasons as each of us becomes the author of our own story. Through accounts of real people from each "season" of life and through the experts who interpret them we are given a rich picture of the entire life span.