0-446-19603-7/ 978-0-446-19603-1
$23.99 (In Canada: $26.99)
272 pages; 5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Memoir
World

In this witty guide for seekers of all ages, author Henry Alford searches out instant enlightenment through conversations with those who have lived long and lived well.

Armed with recent medical evidence that supports the cliché that older people are, indeed, wiser, Alford sets off to interview people over 70—some famous (Phyllis Diller, Harold Bloom, Edward Albee); some accomplished (the world's most-quoted author, a woman who walked across the country at age 89 in support of campaign finance reform); some unusual (a pastor who thinks napping is a form of prayer, a retired aerospace engineer who eats food out of the garbage). Early on in the process, Alford interviews his 79-year-old mother and stepfather, and inadvertently changes the course of their 36-year union.

HOW TO LIVE considers some unusual sources—deathbed confessions, late-in-life journals—to deliver a highly optimistic look at our final days. By showing that life after 70 is the fulfillment of (and not end to) life's questions and trials, HOW TO LIVE delivers that most unexpected punch: it makes you actually "want" to get older.