If I Live to Be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians-Fast Shipping

Description

A beautifully written and elegantly wise book that takes us inside the world of centenarians and invites us to learn from them firsthand the art of living well for an exceptionally long period of time.

NeenahEllis always wanted to live to 100, and her fascination led her to interview centenariansfrom all over the US about what life was like at the very beginning of the century,and how things have changed over time. Ellis, a producer for National Public Radio,spent an unforgettable year traveling with her tape recorder and listening to thestories of America’s oldest men and women. She met a couple who courted by horseand sleigh in Vermont during the winter of 1918, and she spent a week with the oldestliving black lesbian in America. She visited a nationally known expert on dyslexiawho published a book at 96 and whose great-great-grandfather was a colonel in Washington’sarmy; and she met Anna Wilmot, the row-boating centenarian from New England who capturedthe hearts of thousands of NPR listeners with her confession that she swims in thebuff only “when it’s foggy and there’s no fisherman around.”

Originally conceivedas an American history project, Ellis’s year of interviews became much more, a personaljourney of growth and transformation. After two decades of acting as the reporterand inquisitor, Ellis finally shifted gears and was able in the process of theseconversations to start really listening. Once she had put away the exigencies ofher cusp-of-the-millennium life—her deadlines, the intense focus on current events,the endless e-mail and ringing phones—she began to learn the kinds of things thatwe do from much older people. She started to connect in her conversations with them,and to see the virtue of looking forward, as the centenarians did, not reminded her that the moment—this very moment that we’re in right now—is preciousand fine. And that the true richness of life is to be found in each other—in ourmarriages and friendships, in the intellectual life that we share with each other,and in the ways that we become connected. Their stories add up to a course in livingwell, with lessons and inspiration for all of us.