Andre Mauroy, classic of French literature of the 20th century, prose writer and essayist, stunning polymath, author of exquisite short stories and novels, famous romanized biographies of Dumas, Balzac, Hugo, Byron and many others, creator of deep essays on the history of England, the USA, France, in his declining years again turned to the genre of philosophical essays. "An open letter to a young man about the science of living" (1966) makes a perfect match for his illustrious "Letters to a Stranger": this is an honest conversation between an eighty-year-old writer and a twenty-year-old boy.