Publication date March 5, 2024

TOUGH BROAD

Tough Broad is a deeply researched exploration into the science and psychology of the outdoors, and our place in it as we age.

Author Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure. Now in her late fifties, she expects this new stage of life to be every bit as invigorating and full of high adrenalin escapades as the last. But as she skateboards, paddles a SUP, or surfs in cold winter swell alongside many men her age, she sees fewer and fewer older women. Isn’t the outdoors a vital elixir? Shouldn’t adventure be something we pursue as we age?

These are the questions Caroline Paul asks of the many women she interviews, among them:
93-year-old hiker Dot Fisher-Smith, 80-year-old SCUBA diver Louise Wholey, 52-year-old BASE jumper Drew Brooks, and the many septuagenarian Wave Catchers, who boogie board together in the San Diego surf. These women aren’t famous. They aren’t experts. But their experiences offer important insight into our own physical and emotional health as we age.

Caroline dives deep into the research on aging, but also accompanies older women on bird-watching outings, sea kayaking excursions, swim laps, and walks in the park, among other outdoor adventures, and begins to see her own future in a new and dazzling light. Combining scientific research, cultural studies, psychology, and personal stories, Tough Broad is a high-spirited call for women to embrace the outdoors, not back away from it, in our fifties, sixties, seventies and beyond.