Too soon old, too late smart : thirty true things you need to know now
(Book)

After service in Vietnam as a surgeon during the height of the war, Dr. Livingston returned to the U.S. and began work as a psychiatrist. In that capacity, he has listened to people talk about their lives--what works, what doesn't, and the limitless ways (most of them self-inflicted) we have found to be unhappy. Out of a lifetime of experience, Livingston has extracted thirty bedrock truths, which he illuminates in a series of carefully hewn essays, underscoring that "we are what we do," and that while there may be no escaping who we are, we also have the capacity to face loss, misfortune and regret and to move beyond them--that it is not too late.--From publisher description.