For the last few months I’ve been trying to bring reading
back into my life. Partly because I got rid of my cable so I just have the
basic channels. Do you know how few channels are available late at night with anything
even remotely interesting? The selection is so poor that lately I’ve just kept
it on a channel that tells me about local weather. Funny thing is I still have
no idea what it’s supposed to be each day.
Anyway, not only did I want to get caught up with what all
the cool kids were reading, like The
Hunger Games series, or The Immortal
Instruments series, I figured between my entertainment books I should read
some non-fiction. If you remember form my adventure to my local Library
finding books, good books is actually quite hard when you have been out of the
what books are good to read loop.
Sure, you go could on line and try and find a list that has
the top selling books. However, there are about a million lists out there. So
that doesn’t really help. So I put my faith in my local librarian and just
walked over to the new arrival section and looked for something that had an
interesting title or picture. This time it was the title, it sounded
interesting and so did the front cover flap thing. So I checked it out.
What is 30 Lesson for
Living, Tried and True Advice from the wisest American, all about? Well,
the author, Karl Pillemer, decided to go around and interview thousands of what
he calls “experts.” They were men and women from all walks of life that
were/are 65 years old and older. He asked the experts questions and advice
about marriage, child rearing, careers, living without regret, choosing
happiness, and about aging in general.
This was a fantastic book that I highly recommend. I thoroughly
enjoyed the way it was written with examples, quotes, true stories, which were
all easily broken down into sections. Over all, this was a very well put
together book.
Part of me is jealous of Karl Pillemer experience of talking
with so many people about their lives. This is because I am such a huge fan of
stories. He was able to talk with them about all the good bad, sad, and happy stories,
alone is amazing.
I loved that it did answer questions honestly, openly and
with a perspective that few of us have in mind on a daily basis. The experts
can see and understand things with a knowledge that can only be acquired from
age.
Reading this book was so great for me because for some
things it kind of confirmed I had the right ideas about some things. One example, because I don’t want to write all
of them out, is when the experts talked about marriage. Keep in mind some of
these people have been married for 50 plus years. Their advice was that you
have to be friends first. By doing that you’re more willing to work on things,
talk about things, and even after some of the lust or romance might dim a
little, you still want to be in the same room and around the same person. I enjoyed
that they confirmed what I had felt was important too.
Another section titled “Find the Magic, Lessons for aging fearlessly
and well.” This chapter brought into perspective that you don’t have to stop
doing the things you love when you’re old, you just might not be able to do
everything the same way. One example was a lady that loved to go hiking on a
mountain all of her life. One year, she was trying to hike it and could not
make it to the top and became really frustrated and upset. After a little
while, she calmed down and realized she might not be able to make it to the
top, but she’s still outside, still on a mountain and still hiking. This
chapter is great because it makes the next step, the one where all my hair is
grey instead of the few stands I have right now, seem more enjoyable, more pleasant
and still part of a wonderful journey, not just the end of one of sitting on
your couch watching reruns of Matlock.
I could continue to give you a play by play of each chapter
but that wouldn’t do this book and project any justice. This is just a fantastic book that I think
everyone should read.
For more information about the book and it’s project you can
go to their website. http://legacyproject.human.cornell.edu/
If running out the door and buying a copy right now isn’t on the top of your
to-do list, go next to your local Library. I’m returning my copy today, it’s
only two weeks over due. =)
Happy reading!
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