A tremendous article from The Atlantic that digs through the files of the longest running study of a group of men, from college-age to death, to get a glimpse of what makes a life and what makes happiness, with a bit more of a skeptical eye than the typical “positive psychology” literature. This reminds me a little bit of famed The Up Series
, where a group of British children were initially chronicled at age 7, and have been revisited every seven years since until the age of 49 thus far. (I’ve seen them all, and it’s a terrific series, although the later films spend a bit too much time rehashing the previous installments, so you get less of a current view of their lives.) It’s amazing to be at the far end and to collapse the telescoping existence so that a whole life can be surveyed succinctly, but so much must be left out.
Photo source: daverton
