# Surviving Middle Age w/ Ben Markovits Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits.md Podcast: [Reasonably Happy with Paul Ollinger](https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912) Published: 2026-02-12T18:38:00+00:00 Episode link: https://words.paulollinger.com/p/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits-286 Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/191299833/6b5e185219b9ff7a79662278fd515300.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/episodes/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits Duration seconds: 2879 ## Resource Ben Markovits is the author of several acclaimed novels, including his most recent release The Rest of Our Lives, which explores marriage, infidelity, empty nesting, and mortality. The book, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize, focuses on a 55-year-old law professor’s midlife crisis and transformative road trip after his children leave home. You might say it examines the sources of happiness in our lives as we age. Ben’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Guardian. He spoke with me from his home in England. Please ⁠rate and review⁠ ⁠⁠Reasonably Happy⁠⁠ (DO IT!) Read ⁠Paul’s ⁠⁠Substack newsletter⁠⁠⁠ Read Ben's book ⁠NYT essay Get full access to Reasonably Happy at words.paulollinger.com/subscribe ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/episodes/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/reasonably-happy-with-paul-ollinger-635912/surviving-middle-age-w-ben-markovits.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.