Book Review of
The Book of Charlie

Lynn's Review

The Book of Charlie by David Von Drehle was published in 2023.

I will fully admit that I bought The Book of Charlie due to peer pressure. Social media made me buy it. Or at least heavily influenced me to buy it. I saw so many people posting about this book on social media. I love biographies, so I decided to give it a try. 

When David Von Drehle’s met his 100-year-old neighbor Dr. Charlie White he knew he had met someone with a lot of wisdom to share. 

The Book of Charlie is about an ordinary man who lived for 109 years. He led a fairly ordinary life but lived through a lot of extraordinary things in his 109 years. 

I wish there were more books like this. We need stories about people that did extraordinary things. But we also need more stories about ordinary people living life because that is the life most of us can relate to. 

Charlie may have lived an ordinary life, but he had a lot of wisdom to share. He lived through The Great Depression and WWII. He was widowed, divorced, and then had years of happily married life.

He went to medical school before WWII in a time before penicillin, anesthesia, and X-rays. He saw medicine change over the years and he continued to learn and adapt. He never stopped learning. 

The author does a great job mixing history in with Charlie’s story.

I am so glad that I read this one. It was a quick, inspirational read. 

I could have done without the psychology, information about Frued, and sexual content, but besides that, I enjoyed the book.