How to Live – Henry Alford

If you are interested in exploring aging, wisdom and life transitions, Alford’s book, How to Live. . . . is a nice read.  There are several things I really like about this book.

First, Alford addresses our desire to add wisdom as we age.  He gathers reflections on wisdom from older folks including personal notes of choices made by his mother late in her life.

Second, Alford does an excellent job of bringing his mother’s journey to a personal level. He weaves his mother’s decision to alter her marital relationship of 36 years into the book.  He discusses how his mother came to this decision and how it affected other aspects of her life. I was extremely surprised at how relevant these issues were to my current life.  When I talk to my friends, we seem to have more and more stories about our aging parents – their health, finances and romances.

Another positive aspect of this book is that it is full of references on aging and wisdom.  He had wonderful quotes including Albert Einstein famous saying that “A clever person solves a problem.  A wise person avoids it.”   I was able to apply this to my own life by sharing it with my son.  Using this quote, he wrote me a letter expressing how he felt his life was progressing.  As a result and much to my surprise, he is dong a much better job at avoiding problems.

The only problem with the book was the numerous quotes and book titles distracted from the stories of the elderly.  Their stories did not come out as clear as they could have because they were interrupted by various references.

In general, I would recommend this book if you want to explore aging, wisdom and life transitions.