40 pages • 1 hour read
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man
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BetaChapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary
White risked the stability of his career as a doctor by enlisting with the Army Reserves. While this created more uncertainty in his life, White knew that all of life is uncertain anyway; he decided to overcome his reluctance and do what he felt was the right thing. White, now technically a captain in the Air Force, moved to Salt Lake City where the military made him chief of anesthetics and the laboratory in their newly built hospital. A year after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, White was working hard at the Camp Kearns hospital, mainly treating young military men for everyday injuries like broken bones, cuts, pneumonia, and sexually transmitted infections. On weekends he was off work and skied in the nearby Wasatch Mountains.
White embraced this era’s rapid changes in medicine: penicillin and advances in anesthesiology. When the Army wanted to transfer him to Lincoln, Nebraska, to become the new head of anesthesiology there, he insisted on receiving more training in new methods, and excitedly completed a 90-day course at the Mayo Clinic. Von Drehle believes that this event captures how White was ready to transform uncertainty into opportunity: Rather than cling to his old methods, White embraced change and became a sought-after specialist.
When he returned home to Kansas City, White worked with surgeons who needed experienced anesthetists. Mildred helped him organize his own medical association for doctors in this new field. However, with her physical and mental health failing, and her addiction to alcohol still a problem, Mildred had repeated stays at rehabilitation facilities. One day, her body was found at a hotel. While the police attributed her death to her medical conditions, White thought that she died by a suicidal overdose. Women with mental health conditions like Mildred had little support in those days, as mental health was poorly understood and the few addictions services tended to cater to men.
After a few years, White remarried. His wife’s name was Jean Landis; she was a World War II pilot a dozen years his junior. After the war, Landis studied physical education and became a teacher at Park College in Missouri. According to Von Drehle, Landis fell for White since he was “‘such a gentleman, thoughtful, fun’” (150). However, White became too possessive as her husband. He frequently called to check up on her, and she felt that he compromised her independence. Von Drehle attributes White’s insecurities to his traumatic loss of his first wife. Eventually Landis left White, turning down his offer of money, and leaving in her own car.
Chapter 9 Summary
Von Drehle believes that White’s marital experiences made him embrace taking chances even more rather than becoming more cautious. White was now a well-known anesthesiologist in Kansas City, and much in demand. Wally Graham, the official White House doctor from Kansas City, asked White if he would accompany him to Peru to repair the president’s hand. White agreed on the condition that his close friend Bill Duncan, a specialist, could come along. White was concerned about the possibility of the surgery going wrong but provided the necessary anesthesia. The surgery was a success. White was honored by the Peruvian Surgical Society but was more impressed with his experiential reward of touring the Amazon with his friends. White purchased a pet monkey there and brought it back to the United States. In another adventure, he toured several countries in Africa with a pilot friend.
Professionally, White was excited by advances in open heart surgery, for which he provided anesthesia. Because bleeding was reduced when patients were cooler, White thought about how to safely cool them. One day he was tending to his horses and had a revelation: He could immerse his patients in ice water in a tank similar to his horse’s water tanks. White shared his idea with his surgical team, and they bought a horse tank and packed it with ice. The plan worked, and White’s team repeated the process for many patients.
Von Drehle argues that this inventive approach shows how White embraced change and learned new things. Rather than expecting his formal education to suffice for his whole life, White recognized that learning and improving is an incremental and ongoing process. Von Drehle coaches the reader to consider the next question to answer or the next step to take in their own life, rather than worrying about the big picture.
Von Drehle reveals mistakes that White made, such as rejecting chances to invest in companies which later became successful, or not capitalizing on real estate investments. Von Drehle argues that mistakes are a part of everyone’s lives, and usually teach us something valuable.
At age 50, White was devoted to his elderly mother and close with this three sisters, one of whom helped him run his household. He went on to meet Lois Grimshaw, a widow and mother to three children, through a mutual friend. He and Lois had two daughters together and moved to Mission Hills, Kansas. White fondly remembered becoming a father and taking vacations with Lois. After many years of marriage, Lois passed away from cancer.
White’s son-in-law, Jack Moore, who was also a doctor, shared how White was devoted to medicine and giving his patients quality care. He invited Moore on emergency calls so he could become more accustomed to treating different patients. Moore revealed that White continued attending doctors’ monthly meetings, even when he was over 100. White tried to give his kids similar parenting to what he had received and did not overprotect his kids. His constant mantras included: “Do your best” and “Do what’s right” (171).
Chapter 10 Summary
Because of White’s longevity, his retirement lasted as long as his career. By his nineties, White had lost many of his peers, and even some of his younger family members, such as his step-daughter. White attributed his ongoing health to luck. Von Drehle agrees that in many ways he was lucky: He did not suffer any random accidents like his father or get cancer from his smoking habit. White continued to embrace what the present moment had to offer. He started a new relationship with Mary Ann Walton Cooper, a widow and long-time acquaintance.
At the age of 106, White broke his ankle and was hospitalized. When he began hallucinating, Von Drehle worried that his friend might have a neurological problem. However, he simply had failing eyesight. White reacted positively to these discomforts. According to him: “There were much worse things that could happen to a person” (184). The following year, White had pneumonia, and Von Drehle again worried for his friend, but he stayed mentally lucid and recovered from the illness.
At the age of 108, White finally moved into a nursing home where he could live with his girlfriend, Mary Ann. At this time White began telling his close friends and family that he would die soon. However, with his birthday nearing, he changed his mind and decided he would die after that. Shortly after his 109th birthday, he passed away.
Von Drehle shares White’s life advice from an interview he gave shortly before his death. White suggested that people take initiative, work hard, and resist “negativism” (188). Later, he wrote down advice such as “Practice Patience” and “Observe Miracles…Make them happen” (189). Von Drehle observes that such advice is so simple and ponders if people are better able to simplify their life philosophies in their later years. Ultimately, Von Drehle feels that in order to thrive during change and adversity, like White did, people must have a strong foundation of inner strength.
Chapters 8-10 Analysis
Von Drehle continues to explore Stoic Principles in Everyday Life and how Stoic philosophy illustrates the wisdom of White’s approach to life. He explains that the Stoics prized four cardinal virtues. He writes:
Stoic philosophers have regarded courage as one of the four most important cardinal virtues, along with justice, prudence, and self-control. Lesser virtues serve these four. Courage involves a willingness to choose the right path, even when it is difficult or daunting; diligence in pursuing that path; constancy in sticking to the path; fortitude to endure whatever hardships may come along the way (135).
Von Drehle argues that White showed great courage in leaving his established life and medical practice behind in Kansas City to offer his services as a physician to the US Army Reserves. While White was worried about how change in his home and work could affect his life, he overcame his anxiety and committed himself to serving the Army, which he felt was the right choice given the war-time circumstances. Von Drehle explains:
When Charlie worried about being ‘chicken,’ I think he meant that for a moment he lost his Stoic courage. He flinched from his understanding that nothing is certain. But he quickly regained his bearings […] he could do the right thing, which meant volunteering for wartime service. Do it well. And trust that the outcome would be the best he could make it (135).
Another Stoic virtue which Von Drehle emphasizes in these passages is The Importance of Personal Agency. He highlights how, whenever possible, White made decisive choices to steer his life in the right direction. In this way, Von Drehle suggests that focusing on personal agency is an antidote to anxiety. He writes: “It’s natural to feel anxiety and even fear amid so much uncertainty. Stoic Charlie, though, understood that every situation is uncertain. Even at our most confident or complacent, we control only our own choices” (132).
There were many facets of White’s life which were beyond his control, such as his first wife’s illness and early death, and his second wife choosing to leave him. However, White continued to make bold decisions and embrace new challenges. Von Drehle explains that after his marriages, White “lived larger” and “doubled down on his naturally affirmative nature, his inclination to say yes: yes to adventure, yes to experiment, yes to new ideas” (153).
White’s personal agency and positivity helped him endure life’s obstacles. For instance, as the medical profession rapidly changed, White had to continue learning and keeping up with new discoveries. Things had changed so much since his university education in the late 1920s that he attended a three-month training at the Mayo Clinic. Instead of resisting change, White embraced it by trying his own new techniques, like icing his patients before surgery. Von Drehle writes: “This story says a lot about Charlie’s talent for navigating change. He had lived less than half his life span, and his formal education had been rendered largely obsolete […] Charlie embraced the fact that he would be learning new things as long as he lived” (161-62).
White’s positive outlook helped him persist through the ever-changing professional landscape. He was a curious learner who mastered new skills throughout his life. Von Drehle believes that positivity puts people in the best frame of mind to watch for opportunities and act on them. He explains: “We can’t control tomorrow: that’s realism. But optimism teaches us that we can watch for tomorrow, seek to understand it, and leap when the moment arrives to grasp it— perhaps even shape it” (142).
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