- Author: Daniel Klein
- Publisher: Penguin Books
- Published: October 30, 2012
- Pages: 176
- ISBN: 978-0143121930
The first time I read this book, I read it at the wrong time. I was too young — only in my early 40s. The book has only 150 pages, so I breezed through it and moved on.
I came back to this book at 48 and this time understood more clearly what the author was saying. He’s seeking a philosophy of old age, which is a little more resonant for me now. He sums it up nicely by asking, “What is the best way for an old man to live?”
Klein wrote this book when he was 73 (he’s still around now in his mid-80s). In the book, he’s on the Greek island of Hydra, sitting in his house or at his friend’s bar. He has a few philosophy books, his wife, and some friends at the bar. That’s the jumping-off point for Klein to think about growing old. He tells personal stories and dips in and out of the work of several philosophers, but especially Epicurus. He believes we’ve completely misunderstood Epicurus and that he has a lot more to offer than simply “life is pleasure”.
Normally, I dislike philosophy books and, really, philosophy in general. I’ve only ever managed to finish one or two philosophy books. They mostly seem impractical, overly academic, and lacking joy. Klein is the opposite of all that. He’s an amateur philosopher who wrote TV comedies, so this is a much easier read.
Klein is surrounded by friends who are trying to stay young through travel, surgery, medicine, work and any method they can find that makes them feel 30 years younger. He disagrees and claims that old age can be the pinnacle of life if we accept it and adjust to it. I didn’t buy that argument, but I did come to love his attitude. It’s a truly warm book. I’ll be back to read it again in a few years, and I know it will appear in a different light to me then.