{"id":13543,"date":"2020-08-16T10:17:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T17:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3rdactmagazine.com\/?p=13543"},"modified":"2020-08-16T10:17:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T17:17:19","slug":"grand-a-grandparents-wisdom-for-a-happy-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/grand-a-grandparents-wisdom-for-a-happy-life\/book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand: A Grandparent\u2019s Wisdom for a Happy Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Victoria Starr Marshall<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When Chuck Johnson called me to tell me that his Fall 2018 3rd Act<\/em> essay \u201cAdvice to Emery<\/a>\u201d was the inspiration for a new, upcoming book, I was elated. His original essay is a heartfelt gem of life lessons that Johnson gifts to his grandson, and to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the problems I see in the world around me,\u201d he writes in the essay, \u201cI realize that there are so many things I want to say to him (Emery) about the goodness, truth, and beauty that life offers. And I want to warn him about the dangers, too, all the minefields I feel he should stay away from in order to know happiness and avoid unnecessary suffering.\u201d Johnson continues: \u201cAs I think about all I might say, I suspect that the highlights I\u2019ve learned from circling the sun 70 times can be reduced to 10 simple ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grand<\/em> expands on these 10 ideas as Johnson, a professor emeritus, award-winning novelist, philosopher, and Buddhist masterfully weaves his wisdom of years into warm and generous advice.<\/p>\n

Chapter 2\u2014each chapter represents one of the 10 ideas\u2014is titled, \u201cLife is not Personal, Permanent, or Perfect,\u201d wise words to help our grandchildren navigate life and, for us, to navigate these COVID-19 times. Johnson writes, \u201cJust as his circumstances must change during his life, so must Emery understand that he can always change his life to fit new circumstances and reinvent himself.\u201d And I love the example Johnson gives: \u201cThere is a time-honored word for this flexibility in life: Jazz. That unique contribution to American music and culture contains, in theory and practice, the importance of improvisation \u2026\u201d With the changes and challenges thrust upon us these last months, we are all needing to do more improvising right now, and I can\u2019t think of a more positive way to frame a response than living a Jazz moment.<\/p>\n

Grand<\/em> was written before the coronavirus pandemic. In his recent interview with Peter Kelley in UW News<\/em><\/a>, Johnson shares, \u201cThe advice about how to deal with change, loss, and impermanence in the 10 items I compiled for my grandson is something we are right now experiencing palpably. The specter of death and disease, and our fragility as well as resilience as human beings, is dramatically on display every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Grand<\/em>, Johnson reminds Emery that, \u201cWhat we know is always vastly outweighed by what we don\u2019t know and may never know, and we really do live our lives in the midst of great mysteries.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles Johnson Reviewed by Victoria Starr Marshall When Chuck Johnson called me to tell me that his Fall 2018 3rd Act essay \u201cAdvice to Emery\u201d was the inspiration forMore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-book-review"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGrand: A Grandparent\u2019s Wisdom for a Happy Life — 3rd Act Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/3rdactmagazine.com\/grand-a-grandparents-wisdom-for-a-happy-life\/book-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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