A Book of Ages: An Eccentric Miscellany of Great and Offbeat Moments in the Lives of the Famous and Infamous, Ages 1 to 100

by Eric Hanson

AGE ISN’T JUST A NUMBER—IT’S A WAY OF KEEPING SCORE.
THIS IS YOUR SCORECARD.

The day we turn any age, we become contemporaries of everyone who has ever been that age, and it becomes our business to know that Bob Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” when he was twenty, Orson Welles cowrote, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane when he was twenty-five, Winston Churchill was fired from the Admiralty when he was forty and took up painting, and Jane Austen died, unmarried and mostly unknown, when she was forty-one. Knowing who did what when provides the yardstick by which to measure our own progress; it’s comforting to learn that Grandma Moses didn’t show her first painting until she was seventy-eight, and discouraging (but not surprising) to discover that Einstein was already smarter than you at age sixteen.

A witty, ironic collection of moments from famous lives organized by year of age from infancy to death, A Book of Ages tells you who is doing what, who is on top of the world, who is waiting for his luck to change, who is saying unkind things about whom, who is planning his revenge, who is meeting for the first time, and who Elizabeth Taylor is currently divorcing.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?

An Eccentric Miscellany of Achievements,Misdeeds, Crossed Paths, Bypaths, Inventions, Scandals, Child Prodigies, Late Masterpieces, Marriages and Breakups, Feuds, Dead Ends, Second Chances, Adventures and Misadventures, Novels Written and Battles Won and Lost, All Organized by Year of Age.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, History, Historical

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

At age seven, ERIC HANSON read a biography of Kit Carson and has been interested in famous lives ever since. He grew up to be a writer and illustrator whose artwork has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harper’s, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet, among other publications. His fiction and satire have been published in McSweeney’s, the Atlantic, Smithsonian and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Eric]

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Rather than include all the obvious moments (Napoleon's Waterloo and Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling) I tried to collect as many of the odd and interesting moments as I could find in a few hundred famous lives: Freud seeing his mother naked, Charles Schulz having his cartoons rejected by his high school yearbook, Hemingway losing a suitcase containing all of his early stories, Keith Richards writing "Satisfaction", Coco Chanel designing her "little black dress," Julia Child becoming a spy.

[Karen]

Thoroughly enjoyable little book, especially when read slowly (we read a chapter a week)

[Michele]

Exactly like the subtitle states, pretty fun!

[Kari]

I liked this book. My sister Katie suggested I read it. I often find it difficult just to sit and read books like this in one sitting. The book is divided by years, and then seemingly random facts in each year's chapter. I really like the sarcasm woven into the facts. Of course this book also reaffirmed by previous thoughts that I would have to die before I'm thirty, and at the very least by forty-five. Or I'll have to live beyond ninety. Young enough to matter or old enough to get away with anything. Either way the book is pretty good definitely something that could be read every morning or every evening.

[Renee]

I loved this book. I bought it as a gift for my dad last year and mentioned I'd be interested in reading it after him. I thought it'd be a 3-star book, but I'll give it 5.

The book is organized into 100 quick chapters, one for each year of age, and lists from 3-20 things that someone famous did at that age. What really makes the book great is that some of the people appear several times, giving it flow and building characters. Other items are grouped together humorously (like Moses followed by Grandma Moses). I learned a ton quickly, easily, and with great amusement.

Barb, this one is coming to you. :)

[Twobusy]

Why is Secret Santa a great thing? Because it can deliver things like this to your doorstep. This was a gift from Alexa Stevenson, and I can see why she enjoyed it enough to share it — it's a collection of moments from the lives of the famous and infamous, organized by the year in their life in which it happened and relayed with a bone dry, Will Cuppy-esque touch of humor. It's a fast, intriguing read that offers intriguing glimpses into the lives of countless famous names... as well as a somewhat depressing slap in the face as you read about all the incredible things achieved by people much younger than you are now. Still: a solid thumbs up.

[Alison C]

A Book of Ages is one of those volumes that epitomizes the term "bathroom book." Simply organized, it describes events occurring in the lives of famous people by citing the age of the given person when the event occurred. For example, the chapter entitled "Twenty-one" notes that Humphrey Davies invented laughing gas in 1799, when he was 21 years of age, while the emperor Nero murdered his mother at the age of 21. And so on. Entertaining, and clearly designed to be skimmed in short reading bursts.

[Laura]

This is full of the kind of random facts that I like to know! And I thought it was just me...

It is both fascinating and ironic to compare what famous people were up to when they were around your age with your own life, and I liked that among the names that were included there was a fair representation of writers, incl. James Joyce, Sylvia Plath, Carson McCullers, Norman Mailer, Lord Byron, etc.

[Rachel]

Loved this book - fascinating. It mentions events that happened to people separated by age. So things that happened to people when they were zero, then other people when they were one. It might be something funny, formative, disturbing or all of the above. It is just a collection of antidotes geared more to the boomer generation but still good for any age.

[Jason]

Such interesting tidbits about fascinating people told in a new way. Loved the tongue in cheek way in which some milestones were stated. Example: When discussing Stephen King's first published novel, Carrie, the entry ends with a description of said book as "the story of a high school girl who has issues". Gotta Love it!

[Cameron Mcconnell]

Fascinating collection of stories and vignettes about many prominent historical figures. Delightful the first time through and frequently pulled out a reference on birthday to measure myself against history's other characters.

[Ann Klefstad]

this is a really fun book by a dry wit; would make a good gift for any curious type . . .what I learned? That I am not alone in my eccentricity.

[Narr]

A gift from Jane for my 34th birthday.

[Cathy]

Great, random bits of information.

[Beth]

At last a fun and entertaining read. I love books like this that are just basically lists of facts. This is a very quick read for anyone that enjoys trivia.

[E]

by twenties, we all harbor a private belief that we'll flame out before reaching thirty.