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, offering a map all of us may follow to embrace our later years with grace and dignity. Thomas explores the 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.