In such books as The Hidden Life of Dogs, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas revealed a gift for observing the natural world, but here the 90-year-old anthropologist turns her keen eye to her own life. A charmingly intimate account and a broad look at the social and historical traditions related to aging, Thomas's book is a life-affirming map all of us may follow to embrace our later years with grace and dignity. Thomas explores our stereotypes of the elderly as burdensome and the methods of burial that humans have used throughout history, and offers advice on how to deal with a concerned neighbor who assumes you're buying cat food to eat for dinner.

"If you ever plan to grow old or know anyone else who's already there, you'll find insights here you'll see nowhere else."—Sy Montgomery