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Loading... Harley and Me: Embracing Risk On the Road to a More Authentic Lifeby Bernadette M. Murphy
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"What happens when women in midlife step out of what's predictable? For Bernadette Murphy, learning to ride a motorcycle at forty-eight becomes the catalyst that transforms her from a settled wife and professor with three teenage children into a woman on her own. The confidence she gained from mastering a new skill and conquering her fears gave her the courage to face deeper issues in her own life and start taking risks. It is a fact that men and women alike become more risk averse in our later years--which according to psychologists and neuroscience is exactly what we should not do. And Murphy stresses that while hers is a story of transformation using a physical risk, emotional and educational risks can serve the same beneficial purpose for other women. Murphy uses her own story to explore the larger idea of how risk changes our brain chemistry, how certain personality types embrace dangerous behavior and why it energizes them, and why women's expectations change once estrogen levels drop after the childbearing years. She also explores the idea of women and risk in pop culture--why there are so few stories of the conquering heroine (instead of hero). Surely Thelma and Louise driving off the cliff should not be our only pop culture reference for women finding true freedom. With scientific research and journalistic interviews weaving through a page-turning, road trip narrative, Harley and Me is a compelling look at how one woman changed her life and found deeper meaning out on the open road"-- No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.244Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Age groups Early adulthoodLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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This memoir is not only about her personal journey but about risk-taking in general, especially in women of a certain age who are striking out at the same time their husbands are turning inward and homewards.
Woven into her "adventure" (that goes beyond the motorcycle journey into dating and sex and sports like scuba diving and ice climbing) she dives deep into the biology and chemistry of risk-taking, the risk gene, and personality tests.
It's an intimate story and I appreciate the risks she took in revealing some painful, soul-shaping events of her life. It is in those moments that I connected with her the most. In sharing the journey of life and her views on the risk of living she is most inspiring.
Enjoy! (