The View from Ninety

Reflections on How to Live a Long, Contented Life

By: Charles Handy

Narrated by: Scott Handy

Brought to you by Penguin.

FROM THE BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF THE EMPTY RAINCOAT AND UNDERSTANDING ORGANISATIONS.

Over a span of seven decades, Charles Handy was, variously, a businessman, a writer, a philanthropist and a philosopher. Not even a stroke as he approached the age of 90 dimmed his intellectual curiosity or his immense zest for life.

In this, his final book, written from the vantage point of a contemplative old age and drawing on his articles for The Idler he shares his thoughts on the big questions with which we all grapple:

What things really matter?
What daily worries should we learn to treat as unimportant?
How do we become more accepting of ourselves and of those around us?
How do we discover purpose in our everyday existence? How do we cope with grief and loss?

Drawing in part on his own experience, in part on the wisdom of others, he sets out the principles of enjoying a fulfilled and contented life, and gently points the way to the practicalities of achieving it.

© Charles Handy 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critic reviews

A guru

A wise and gentle commentator

Offers wit, wisdom and gratitude. […] Charles Handy’s 19th and last book is not his heftiest. But it may be, in some important respects, his weightiest. These final breaths of wisdom sacrifice little of Handy’s wit, charm and storytelling skill. (Andrew Hill)

Rightly treasured as Charles Handy’s books are, his most important lesson may be his life. This collection of short reflections on life, work and people… reflects old age, but its spirit doesn’t. Handy’s later books are only indirectly about business… but paradoxically that is exactly why any business leader would profit from reading it. Sharp insights abound. (Simon Caulkin)

A thought-provoking recap of some of the prescient and radical ideas that marked his career, while also offering his touching final insights into life and death.