100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life a Review by Susan

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100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life

Dick Van Dyke

Hatchette Audio

Goodreads/Amazon/Bookshop.org

In full disclosure, Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorite actors and as a child, Mary Poppins was constantly viewed, as my young daughter was enthralled with it and watched it on repeat.  As a result, there was going to be very little chance that I was not going to enjoy this.

Further, as someone who is aging, I enjoy hearing others’ views on growing older, especially someone who has made it to 100.  I would say that this book will appeal to his fans and to those who are aging.  However, that is not a negative, as many celebrity memoirs appeal to an audience that knows who they are.

This is also billed as a “self-help” book.  In this book, Dick Van Dyke does, in fact, give his  “rules” for living to 100 (I cannot swear that there were actually 100 because I didn’t count them but it doesn’t matter).  While much of this are things I have heard before, they do have a different feel coming from someone who has actually made it to 100.

While there were poignant moments about the difficulty of growing old and in some things that happened in his life, the feeling of the book overall is one of joy.  That can be seen in the cover and in the title.  I think we can all use some joy in our lives.  I would say that this memoir reminds me a little of Michael J. Fox’s memoirs; although he could have been morbid, he wasn’t.  The same is true here.

I have not read the digital version but I certainly would suggest that readers consider listening to the audiobook.  While it often doesn’t matter to me, it did here.  Dick Van Dyke came on at the beginning, which was so much fun.  Tom Bergeron provided the narration and he was truly excellent, providing a “Dick Van Dyke feel” to the text.  This was the situation where I was glad to have gotten the audio versus the digital book.

Thanks to Hatchette Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this audiobook.  All of the opinions expressed here are my own.