Q: You founded Encore.org in 1998 with a goal of helping make the decades of life beyond 50 become a time of social contribution and impact. In a sense, you have been living the message of How to Live Forever for the past 20 years. What motivated you to write this book at this time?

 

A: Turning 60 had something to do with it, but, really, it was a movie that pushed me to write the book. Keep On Keepin’ On, a documentary released in 2014, follows the relationship between jazz great Clark Terry, who is in his 80s, and Justin Kauflin, a blind piano prodigy in his 20s. When Clark began to lose his sight to diabetes, a student introduced him to Justin. That meeting led to an extraordinary friendship — and a two-way mentoring relationship. Over the years, Clark taught Justin everything he knew, and Justin gave Clark a reason to live and a way to live on. To this day, the film has a deep emotional hold on me. It captures so many important lessons about how to nurture the next generation.

 

Q: Can you explain the book’s title?

 

A: I’m appalled by the Silicon Valley tech titans who are investing millions in plans to radically extend life and even eliminate death entirely. Real happiness and understanding begin not with denying or defeating death. The only true way to endure is to accept our mortality and with it the wisdom that we are a species designed to live on…just not literally. We do so by passing on, from generation to generation, what we’ve learned from life. By investing in and connecting with the next generation, not actually trying to be that generation. That’s how we live forever.

 

Q: Who is your main audience for the book? How do you hope readers will respond?

 

A: I’d love it if all the people who read Atul Gawande’s book, Being Mortal, would read How to Live Forever. Gawande urges people to acknowledge their mortality and, in their last few months or years, do the things that matter most to them. I’d like people to acknowledge their mortality and live for decades doing the things that matter most to them. I’d like longer lives to be seen as a force for good.

 

I hope readers will finish the book inspired to create relationships across generations. You can sign up for ideas on how from Gen2Gen, Encore.org’s campaign to mobilize 1 million adults 50+ to stand up for — and with — young people today. Of all the things that divide us, the gap between old and young is arguably the most bridgeable.

 

Q: How did you manage to fit a book-length project into your schedule? Any words of advice for aspiring authors who are juggling a full time job and a family about making time for writing?

 

A: I’m very fortunate to have a job that includes time for writing. That said, if you read the book’s introduction, you’ll see I’ve got a lifelong problem with time management. I may be the world’s worst person to give advice on this topic!

 

Q: Are you enjoying the book talks and promotional events? Have there been any surprises or new insights so far in the questions and comments you have received from readers?

 

A: I’m enjoying the talks immensely! I’m heartened and inspired by the people who come up to me afterwards and tell me about all the innovative ways they’ve found to build bridges to younger generations. In writing the book, I worried about whether we have the makings of a real movement here. As I talk about the book across the country and the world, I’m convinced that we do. We just need to uncover it.

 

Q: Is it too soon for you to be thinking about a next book – or does that beckon sometime in the future?

 

A: It’s too soon. It may always be too soon.

Interview by Mary Cronin