Life Is So Good

What makes a happy person, a happy life? In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a 101-year-old man who learned to read when he was 98, reflects on the philosophy he learned from his father--a belief that "life is so good"--as he offers valuable lessons in living and a fresh, firsthand view of America during the twentieth century.

Born in 1898 in Marshall, Texas, the grandson of slaves, George Dawson
tells how his father, despite hardships, always believed in seeing the
richness in life and trained his children to do the same. As a boy,George
had to go to work to help support the family, and so he did not attend
school or learn to read; yet he describes how he learned to read theworld
and survive in it. "We make our own way," he says. "Trouble is out there,
but a person can leave it alone and just do the right thing. Then, if double
still finds you, you've done the best you can."At ninety-eight, George decided
to learn to read and enrolled in a literacyprogram, becoming a celebrated
student. "Every morning I get up and Iwonder what I might learn that day.
You just never know."

In Life Is So Good , he shares wisdom on everything from parenting
("With children, you got to raise them. Some parents these days are
growing children, not raising them") to attitude ("People worry too much.
Life is good, just the way it is").