PublicAffairs has released a paperback version of Encore: Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life by Marc Freedman, the 2007 bestseller that was named one of last year’s best books by two business publications.

Encore describes a new stage of life for baby boomers after the end of their primary careers, but before old age and retirement. The central feature of this new stage is increasingly an “encore career” that combines continued income with personal and social significance. Freedman is the founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, publisher of Encore.org

The Wall Street Journal named Encore one of 2007’s five best “guides to help people prepare for and enjoy life in their 50s and beyond,” writing that “the five ‘mini’ autobiographies of people who have embraced [encore] careers are alone worth the price of admission.”

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine named Encore the “Best Inspirational Retirement Guide” of the year. “This book,” the magazine writes, “challenges baby boomers to build a better world through a second career and provides concrete steps to help them find their next job.”

Freedman tells the stories of encore career pioneers who are putting their experience to work and helping communities improve, like Jacqueline Khan, a truant officer who became a critical care nurse, and Robert Chambers, a car salesman who provides low-interest loans and fuel-efficient cars to the rural poor in New Hampshire.

Challenges Freedman: Think of the possibilities if 100,000 people launched 10-year encore careers. “That’s one million years of service dedicated to areas like education, poverty and the environment. What are we waiting for?”

Encore is available on Amazon.com.