Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life

by Henry Oliver

"Henry Oliver is a rare smart, funny and insightful. HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF showcases his wide reading, deep understanding and playful prose style. Read this book to discover why it's never too late for a second act in your own life."HELEN LEWIS, author of Difficult WomenOur society tells us over and over that if we're going to achieve anything, we'd better do it while we're young. We fixate on stories of prodigies; we put our children in piano lessons or language classes as toddlers, hoping to give them the best shot at success we can. As for ourselves, too many people feel it's too late to change the course of their own lives. Whether we are at the start of our careers and sense we're on the wrong path, or feeling unsettled in our late or middle years, we all wonder how we can reinvent ourselves? Is it too late?This book has answers. Late bloomers - individuals who experience significant success later in life - offer lessons for people who feel frustrated. This book encourages people to think about themselves as potential late bloomers and to discover and encourage and advocate for late blooming in others. After all, it's never too late to discover our hidden talents and our accomplish our goals - the road to success is never as straightforward as we are lead to believe. Julia Child didn't discover that she loved to cook until she was thirty-seven. Vera Wang started her design business at forty. And Michelangelo painted The Last Judgment in his sixties.This inspiring, passionate book combines wonderful storytellingwith fascinating new research, to shift expectations around our life trajectories. You'll discover a range of blueprints for self-reinvention, pairing the newest insights from psychology and neuroscience with late bloomers' remarkable life stories, from Penelope Fitzgerald to Samuel Johnson, from the inventor ofthe Covid vaccine to Malcolm X.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Psychology, Philosophy, Personal Development, Business

407 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2024

About the author

Henry Oliver is a writer, speaker, and brand consultant. He writes regularly for outlets like the New Statesman, The Critic, and UnHerd. He writes the popular Substack The Common Reader, which was recently mentioned in the Atlantic. His book Second Act is about late bloomers. In 2022, he was given an Emergent Ventures grant.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I had heard good things but found it really dull.

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this day and age where ageism is pretty widespread, this is a good book which dispels the popular notion that useful contributions can come only in younger ages.

There are several life stories across various professions and industries which are discussed in the book. One prominent example is Katherine Graham, who took over the Washington Post after the death of her husband. Very little was expected from her and she had maintained a low profile till then. She turned out be very successful at her role. Late bloomers often lead unconventional lives and are generally ignored till the results prove them capable. Pitkin in his popular book 'Life begins at 40' said that age need not mean decline. A slow growing human is normal. Research also shows that age has 0 predictive power in recruitment.

Most Investors also prefer younger entrepreneurs to support and fund. There is actually no quick way to gain experience which is invaluable in running a business. Though some abilities do degrade (especially physical), it generally does not impact ability to succeed and there are several compensating factors. Other than cognitive & physical ability, a number of personality traits are very important. Irrespective of age, there is no substitute for hard work and focus. The book does not specifically seek to narrow down who is likely to be a late bloomer.

This is a well written book with good business stories. The points are made largely with examples of successful people, and there is not much conceptual or scientific coverage. Most of the stories included are very good ones, though I found the book a bit dense to read.

My rating: 3.75 / 5.

Thanks to Netgalley, John Murray Press and the author for a free electronic review copy.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second Act is extraordinarily good because Henry Oliver is a late bloomer par excellence. He has used years of inefficient preparation and persistent hard work to build up a world of reading, taste and analytical thinking which he deploys gracefully.

There's something enjoyably British about the book- the life profiles are not showy or masculine types; but newspaper CEOs, late-life adventurers, fast-food entrepreneurs and dictionary creators. It speaks to Oliver's unique mind that Samuel Johnson is his great inspiration, and also that a Brit would devote an entire chapter to Margaret Thatcher. There is no Girardian imitation of the British political sphere, many of whom would balk at such a task.

Oliver is extremely widely read and his taste is excellent and original. In Cowenian style, I feel the need to read more about Michelangelo's architecture, the memoirs of Audrey Sutherland, the novels of Penelope Fitzgerald, and The Pursuit of Happyness, beyond the Will Smith film. He has read a great deal of fiction, and deploys this to refine his arguments and provide colour to his thesis. I'm sure this is one reason the book is filled with such glorious prose

And finally, the use of social science is measured and discerning. There is careful attention to the ambiguity in fields; the need for more research; competing theses, but deployed towards clear arguments.

A true original: setting the standard for what non-fiction can be. I look forward to whatever Henry Oliver does next.

[Ferhat Elmas · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just a well-crafted permission to start over late, or comfort for those still waiting.

Its central flaw is conflation. It treats three distinct patterns as one: early success followed by crisis followed by a second peak (Wright), no success followed by late discovery (Malcolm X), and success followed by a pivot to a different success (Vera Wang). These demand different strategies, different risk tolerances, and different frameworks. Lumping them together produces advice that applies to none.

Survivorship is mentioned then ignored. Anecdotes stand in for evidence. Grit reappears with no mention of when to quit, pivot, or walk away before burnout.

The multi-armed bandit framing is misapplied. In reality, opportunities aren't fixed slots. Reward distributions shift with opportunity cost, structural advantages (time, domain), and compounding. Exploration without structure is just wandering.

Even sound advice falls short, emphasizes network but ignores quality. One VC knows your business deeply can be transformative; a hundred shallow contacts can't. Chaos theory is used to explain unexpected turns, then fills the book with stories of the privileged.

It's full of people who found their second act but empty on how to find yours. It documents outcomes, not progress. For anyone seeking a practical framework, skip it. All it offers is reassurance that late success is possible.

[Sekar Writes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for providing the ARC, allowing me to give my honest review.

A book that never too late to read. A great reminder to us that we are never too (relatively) late to blossom in life.

Henry Oliver defines late bloomers as people who achieve success later in life when noone expects them to.

I found this book refreshing and well-written for several reasons:
1. The book looks at the factors that lead to late-blooming success in different fields, making us seeing the stories fairly, helping us understand, and recognize these special individuals.
2. Oliver introduces the book by stating that the spirit of this book is in the word 'perhaps.' He highlights the book as a reminder that we often underrate the potential of hidden talent. This approach is refreshing because it is often missing in social science books. Throughout the book, you will find numerous arguments supported by studies and research backed by academic journals and popular publications.

It’s nice to find a book that warn us to never stop exploring our interests, to be persistent, and to find the right support to help us succeed.

[Adeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second Act is a truly delightful read. No matter what age you are, or whether you feel you’re ’not there yet’ (whatever and wherever the ‘there’ might be), it’s the kind of book that leaves you with a new, healthy perspective on modern society’s obsession with young high achievers and self-optimisation.

I hate the concept of ‘late bloomers’ that’s generally used to describe anyone deemed to be lacking - in experience, contentment, career etc. I equally dislike the trend of 30 under 30-type rankings that make you feel like failure for not living in a castle by the time you’re 29.

Oliver offers a beautiful and much needed reminder that a meandering career and interests are to be valued. It’s a great combination of real life examples (from Maya Angelou, to Washington Post owner Katherine Graham, to - yes - Margaret Thatcher) and deeper analyses of what, and how, what we consider “success” is achieved in ways and ages that wouldn’t make a flashy Forbes cover. Second Act is inspiring, deeply intelligent, and a thoroughly enjoyable read. Not to mention packed with solid career advice.

A big thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this excellent work.

[Griffin Gooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because the author told me to over Substack. It was the most hyper direct book marketing I’ve ever seen.

But I’m so glad he did, because this book is a genuine gem. I am a sucker for the books about growing in expertise or excellence, and I feel like Second Act fills in the gaps left by the giants of the genre like Outliers or Peak. It’s practical, well-written, and full of tangible wisdom.

My biggest qualm, which can barely be called a qualm, was Mr. Oliver’s consistent use of “This will be address in Chapter 3,” or “But we will discuss that more in Chapter 9.” I realize this is a very minor aesthetic critique, but I personally find those kinds of comments totally redundant within non-academic publications. Regardless, this work should be read by all who are interested in achievement!

[Ravikumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book to get some motivation personally. After running a startup business for ten years in Africa, I migrated to Australia in 2020. I took employment again as a means to support myself and that helped me with the local context. There are lingering doubts if I can start my second act here and this book has given me the hope and strategies to give it my best shot. In a nutshell, this book teaches that age doesn't matter, skills don't matter, trying and failing is part of the learning process, and we are not old enough to try anything new.
Henry Oliver has done quite a lot of research on the hero characters in this book and that motivates me to keep trying. Never bragging, never bringing his ego inside and such a detailed analysis from his extensive reading. I'm curious to know the author's own second act.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit of a let-down for me. I was hoping for some real insight or practical advice about reinventing yourself later in life, but it’s mostly just a collection of mini-biographies of people who happened to become successful at a relatively old age. Some of the people he chooses are honestly baffling, like Dominic Cummings (seriously?) which feels more like a glimpse into the author’s own political biases. The audiobook doesn’t help either, the narration is somewhat flat and robotic.

[Ryan Chern · Rating 3 out of 5]

tldr; work hard, your environment matters

Would have liked to see more about the specific characteristics and more about capturing alpha in individuals versus general macro beta.

A good first stab at this questions, but much more questions arise than are answered. I’m not sure a book is the correct medium for this question either.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I'm generally not a huge fan of the self-help genre, this book definitely got me motivated. Rather than relying on aphorisms and fortune cookie wisdom, this book is more like a series of very short biographies of people who accomplished great things in the latter half of their lives. I'd recommend it to anyone contemplating a career change.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept for a book and parts of it were really well executed. I liked that he took time to dig deep into examples, like Katherine Graham, and I actually think he would have gone well to dive deeper into a few more people. But there were also sections that dragged, with winding arguments and lots of references to relevant-ish studies but none of it very compelling.

[Bibliohiker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This has some great pointers for being yourself and never give up, and embrace failure. Try here were some people I’d never heard of but many I have and hadn’t realized they’d experienced failures.

[Rose Mbugua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the real-life stories the author has given in the book. It was interesting to have a peek into the lives of these individuals. Good examples include the story about Frank Lloyd Wright and Yitang Zhang.

[Kevin Postlewaite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, interesting and well-written vignettes of people who achieved great things, although I did not find the thesis convincing.

[Johannes Ekdahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject but needs an editor! Part of it feels like it was written by ai.