Jon Shattuck, a seasoned leader whose career spanned hospital administration and decades of community service, has released a new book titled Choices to Live By. The book, announced this week, offers a deeply personal guide to living well, drawing on Shattuck's own experiences to help readers navigate life's most important questions. It arrives at a time when many people are seeking meaning and direction amid uncertainty, making its message particularly relevant.
Shattuck emphasizes that the book is not a prescription for a perfect life. "It is not a cookbook of requirements," he says, but rather an invitation to explore the questions that shape character and guide choices across a lifetime. His authority comes from a life richly lived: from laying asphalt driveways after college to rising to the top of his graduate school class, from 65 years of marriage to leading grief support groups in his later years. This breadth of experience gives the book a credibility that purely theoretical works often lack.
The book covers a wide range of human experiences, including truth and authenticity, the nature of love, forgiveness, listening, and humility. Shattuck addresses grief with tenderness, having sat beside people in their darkest moments, and confronts escape, victimhood, and the temptation to run from hard truths with unflinching honesty. Throughout, he returns to a guiding principle he calls TWTA—The Way Things Are—a simple framework for responding to life as it actually is rather than as we wish it to be. This thread runs through every chapter, giving the book coherence and practical application.
Shattuck's storytelling brings abstract concepts to life. He shares vivid moments, such as a woman with multiple sclerosis who decided to make every day her best, a retired schoolteacher's four-word question that redirected his career toward hospital administration, and a long walk through the woods that marked a turning point after a devastating job loss. These stories anchor the book's wisdom in lived experience, making its lessons compelling and believable. The book closes with a meditation on faith that is honest about its personal nature without being prescriptive, encouraging readers to seek a foundation in something larger than self-interest.
In a time of rapid change and widespread anxiety, Choices to Live By offers a grounded, generous, and enduringly useful companion. It is particularly valuable for parents, educators, counselors, mentors, and anyone navigating a significant life transition. By emphasizing intentional choices rooted in strong values, Shattuck provides a roadmap for living with more intention, honesty, and joy. The book is available now, and more information can be found at https://jonshattuck.com/.
