Happiness Is a Choice You Make
Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Bestseller!
An extraordinary look at what it means to grow old and a heartening guide to well-being, Happiness Is a Choice You Make weaves together the stories and wisdom of six New Yorkers who number among the “oldest old”— those eighty-five and up.
In 2015, when the award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America’s fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction. Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment. The reality Leland encountered upended contemporary notions of aging, revealing the late stages of life as unexpectedly rich and the elderly as incomparably wise.
Happiness Is a Choice You Make is an enduring collection of lessons that emphasizes, above all, the extraordinary influence we wield over the quality of our lives. With humility, heart, and wit, Leland has crafted a sophisticated and necessary reflection on how to “live better”—informed by those who have mastered the art.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veteran voice actor Petkoff subtly captures the personalities of the six subjects in New York Times reporter Leland's study of the lives of New Yorkers over the age of 85. Following each of his subjects over the course of a year, Leland counters commonly held assumptions about this growing demographic and addresses the realities of aging. For the audio edition, Petkoff wisely opts outs of full-on characterizations, instead choosing to convey the individual demeanors of the three men and three women who comprise the study. His performance comes alive in the direct quotes and turns of phrases, such as nursing home resident Helen Moses's feisty refrain "bring me a gin and tonic" when conversing about her active social life and romantic entanglements. Others don't quite share Helen's zest for new adventures, and Petkoff adjusts his tone to tackle Leland's discussions of loneliness, depression, and even the wish to die. Petkoff's balanced approach nicely complements the complexities of Leland's research. A FSG/Crichton hardcover.
