John Leland: Happiness Is a Choice You Make

John Leland is an acclaimed writer for the New York Times who’s new book, Happiness is a Choice You Make: A Year Among the Oldest Old is a New York Times Bestseller. In a series of profiles with a diverse group of older Americans Leland shares what he’s learned about living from this fine group of folks. In the book, he traces the life lessons he’s picked up from them – in a way that old comes with wisdom. For this former Rock writer for Spin, opening his heart this couldn’t have been easy and certainly was scary. Still – Leland’s fearlessness as an author and investigator of life shines through. The same guy who put Lisa Lisa and Sa-Fire on the cover of Spin mag, and co-profiled (with Veronica Chambers) Generation ñ in Newsweek – brings the critical eye he brought to books like Hip: A History and Why Kerouac Matters to this beautiful and hopeful tome. It was a blast to talk about his new book, with my old friend John, who I first met back in 1999 when he wrote that Newsweek article on gen ñ. If you’re in Miami he’ll be at Books & Books on Monday. He’s in Broward on Tuesday – check your dates. And for quick wisdom, give this podcast a listen.