The Book of Charlie

After moving from Washington to Kansas, journalist David Von Drehle became friends with Charlie White, a neighbor who was already more than 100 years old. The book tells White's life as a lesson in living long and well. White was born before radio existed and lived long enough to use a smartphone. After a tragedy interrupted his boyhood, he mastered strategies for survival, and his sense of adventure later took him through the Jazz Age, ambulance runs during Depression-era gangster wars, improvised techniques in early open-heart surgery and an Amazon cruise as the guest of Peru's president. Von Drehle set out to record White's secrets as a gift to his own children. It became a New York Times best seller.

Ryan Holiday said he quite enjoyed it and included it among the best books he read in 2023.