What can people over 85 teach us about how to live better now?

Plenty.

It starts with listening not just for problems we can solve, but for wisdom and experience we can use. And it leads to relationships that are about receiving as much as giving.

At the age of 55, award-winning journalist John Leland was newly divorced and suddenly living alone, when he decided to interview members of America’s fastest-growing age cohort: Adults over 80. While Leland certainly expected to hear (and did hear!) the usual complaints and inevitabilities that may come with the later years, he also discovered unexpected contentment, acceptance and wisdom common to all of his subjects, despite their varied backgrounds---information which then deeply affected his own journey at midlife.

Leland's subsequent newspaper series, published over a year in The New York Times, became the basis for his current New York Times bestseller, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old. The collection of inspiring stories and lessons celebrate uplifting choices that might be made at any stage of life and life challenges.

On Monday night, April 16th, Institute on Aging welcomes John Leland as he elaborates on stories from the book, his own experience while writing it, and how the influence of elders are precious knowledge for us all. Copies of Happiness Is a Choice You Make will be about $29-30, inclusive of tax, and is available in hard-back, thanks to our friendly neighborhood book purveyor, Books Inc., Laurel Village.

Date: Monday, April 16th, 7 PM (Doors open at 6:15 p.m.)

Place: Institute on Aging, 3575 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118

Parking: Limited street parking around the building. Public transportation is nearby.

Cost: $15, General Admission; $5.00 students and seniors (65+)

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED, IN ADVANCE, FOR ALL TICKET TYPES.

John Leland is a reporter at The New York Times, where he wrote the yearlong series that became the basis for The New York Times bestseller Happiness Is a Choice You Make, and is the author of two previous books, Hip: The History and Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of “On the Road”(They’re Not What You Think). Before joining the Times, he was a senior editor at Newsweek, editor in chief of Details, a reporter at Newsday, and a writer and editor at Spin.

Happiness Is A Choice You Make: Lessons from A Year Among the Oldest Old has been heralded as a New York Times Book Review "Editor's Choice" and a People magazine "Best New Book."

Other reviews include...