What is the key message of this book?

The wisdom of life can be learned by asking those who have lived long and remarkable lives. As the book’s cover says: “If you want to know the secret to a happy life, ask someone who has lived it.” The common themes are presented as the “five secrets”. I would put this book in my list of “the five books you must read before you die and the sooner the better!”

What recommends this book?

I like to know where ideas are coming from, and who is presenting ways of living or interpreting life. This book is based on significant research with over 200 people and I warm to the author’s careful interpretation of the stories gathered. I also felt an honesty in the author, John Izzo, not so much because of his background as a christian minister but because of his own change of direction in life and growing understand of life’s meaning and purpose.

Each of “the secrets” is amplified with many heart-warming stories from the interviewees. Moreover, anyone can adopt “the secrets” at any time. Nevertheless, there is no ‘agenda’ – philosophical or religious – merely an invitation to learn from the wise, or even to do our own research and come to our own conclusions.

What gems are worth capturing?

The five secrets are … worth discovering for yourself by reading the book! The book explains not only what is really behind each secret but also how to put each into practice. And there is a perspective on what it means to die and a final reminder that it is “never too late to live the secrets.”

As ever, in such great books, there are a wealth of valuable quotations. My favourites are: a Romanian saying: “the house that does not have an old person in it must buy one”; the poet Czeslaw Milosz: “The peace I felt was a closing of accounts and was connected to the thought of death”; and Leo Buscaglia: “Life lived for tomorrow will always be a day away from being realised.”