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The View from Ninety

Reflections on How to Live a Long, Contented Life

Charles Handy

$29.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
Penguin (Cornerstone)
09 August 2026
One of the major thinkers of our times reflects on how to live richer, more contented lives, drawing on wisdom built up over a lifetime

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.
By:  
Imprint:   Penguin (Cornerstone)
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm,  Spine: 15mm
Weight:   200g
ISBN:   9781804954157
ISBN 10:   1804954152
Pages:   224
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Charles Handy was a writer, broadcaster and teacher, as well as a former oil executive, an economist, a professor at the London Business School, the Warden of St. George's House in Windsor Castle and the chairman of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He was born in Co. Kildare in Ireland, the son of an archdeacon, and educated in Ireland, England (Oxford University) and the USA (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His many books include The Empty Raincoat, Gods of Management, The Second Curve and 21 Letters.

Reviews for The View from Ninety: Reflections on How to Live a Long, Contented Life

A guru * The Times * A wise and gentle commentator * The Guardian * 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 * Financial Times * 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 * Director Magazine * 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. * Financial Times, Best Books of 2025 *


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