Witness to a century says art and health beat wealth in the long run

IF YOU found yourself at dinner next to an affable gentleman who proceeded to tell you his life story - all 94 years of it - spiced with kindly bits of advice, it would be a lot like reading this book.

As the reader learns in this gentle autobiography - So Far, So Good: The First 94 Years (John Wiley & Sons, US$29.95) - when Roy Neuberger was born in 1903 in the United States, Teddy Roosevelt was president, the Wright brothers were preparing for their epic flight, and the first trans-American automobile trip was under way.

This is a slight shock, considering how dramatically the world has changed in the lifetime of this one man - who still does his morning exercises and reads the newspaper and offers opinions on President Bill Clinton.

In this considerable span of time, Mr Neuberger has witnessed two market collapses and two world wars, started the Neuberger & Berman fund-management company, won and lost large amounts of money, bought a lot of paintings and managed to keep his good humour intact.

'Some people waste their lives in the constant pursuit of great wealth. As a commodity, let's face it, money doesn't rate as high as good health - and it certainly isn't up there with great art,' Mr Neuberger says in his preface.

In the style of gentlemen who are getting on in years, Mr Neuberger tends to ramble and repeat himself, until one is suppressing yawns and trying not to tune out completely because the gist of his conversation is, on the whole, quite interesting.

The lives of people born in the first half of the century seem so much simpler than now. Things were black and white, right and wrong. Mr Neuberger's book, containing his firm opinions, is steeped in the easy clarity and confidence of a man who examines things for himself.