I'm Alan Alder, and this is clear and vivid conversations about connecting and communicating.

I've forgotten about that one. That is so right. If you play Louis Armstrong, if you play West End Blues or anything great,

it's all great about Louis Armstrong. At the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, I defy you to be

unhappy. He is so good. Nobody's ever played the trumpet better. And there's something about

what he puts into the trumpet, the joy along with the pain.

There's never been a musician like him.

So I say, start the day and end the day with Louis Armstrong.

That's my old friend Roger Rosenblatt.

And this is one occasion when calling someone an old friend is literally true.

That tip about cheering yourself up by listening to Louis Armstrong is from an essay of Rogers

called Tips for Being Happily 85 Years Old, like me, which he published recently in the New York

Times. In our conversation, Roger and I compare notes on staying happy when old.

And he shares more tips from his new book coming out next year called More Rules for Aging,

including some tips that may seem counterintuitive, like don't use common sense,

believe everyone, and don't pay attention to people in your way.

Roger, I loved a piece you did for the New York Times called 10 Tips for Being happily 85 years old like me.

Did you get a lot of responses from that? A remarkable amount. I was told by the times that it had 1.1 million readers and was counting. Wow. There's a lot of us old people out there.

This is a follow-up on the first book you wrote about getting older, which is called Rules for Aging.

How did you decide to do another book about aging after you actually got older? Had you

learned something new? Yeah, I learned I'd like to make more money on the second book

because the first book sold a million copies.

Wow.

...