What a great book. I never would have guessed it was written by Fred, the guy I had to read all about as a college psychology student. The book, Enjoy Old Age: A Practical Guide, was written in 1983 and shares all this useful stuff about what you should and should not do as you become an “old person.”
The one thing that stood out for me was Fred’s belief that each difficulty we face is just a problem to be solved. Fred was an action guy. In his world, doing was more important than thinking or feeling.
Fred was born in a railroad town in Pennsylvania in 1904. He and his younger brother, Edward, were country kids with great curiosities. Fred spent most of his career at Harvard. He made famous the Skinner Box, which included a bunch of rats and pigeons hitting levers for food and water.
I never much saddled up to B.F. Skinner’s theory. That’s why I was surprised to be so impressed by this book.
And I’m going to steal his final word before he died and make it my own.
Fred, having learned to enjoy life with all its setbacks, whispered, “Marvelous.”