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Rating:  -
Borrowed both this & Mr. Alda's biogrpahy, " Never Have Your Dog Stuffed", from the library, thank goodness!! At least I didn't waste my money!
Am not quite finished with this one but am afraid there will be no improvement in the last 30 odd pages. Someone convinced Mr. Alda to take his speeches from commencements, funerals, dinners, etc, & excerpt them with his post facto commentary. I'm sorry people, but if ya hafta explain the joke, forget it. This should have been forgotten!
Why did he do this? And who cares? In my humble opinion, he should have done this privately, for his own edification. A couple of times he threw out a scientific word, "valance", admitting he had no clue as to it's meaning in the scientific world. He rambles on & on about how all the peoples of the world should be as interested in, & be able to understand science as he now does, after 11 years of speaking directly and personally to & with scientists. Yet, does he define this one word for his reader? Well not yet & I am on page 176 of a 209 page book. And there is no glossary at the end. I peeked. Sure I can look it up, I know how to read a dictionary; have many times. But at this point, I just don't care! Perhaps if it is that important to All our lives, he might have given us it's definition?
What a shame. I thought, yes past tense, so much of Mr. Alda as an actor; but as a writer, I wish I hadn't read this particular book. I so wish he had kept who he Thinks he really is to himself. Like almost any book from which a movie is made, my imagination was so much better than the visuals. Sorry.
Rating:  -
THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF is a great example of recycling done right. Each of the sixteen chapters is built around a commencement speech or other talk given by Alan Alda, but with a wealth of new material from him on the Meaning Of Life.
It's a difficult topic but Alda has as much right as anyone to give it a crack. He builds on his near-death experience in Chile and tells stories of his childhood, his family, his career, and people who touched his life. In each case the story is entwined with the speech to illustrate a life lesson. The editing may be a bit loose in some cases, and the book meanders toward a conclusion, as if you were taking a leisurely stroll with a wise and confident friend.
An example of Alda's meandering is the chapter named "A Passion for Reason." For reasons not made entirely clear, he was asked to give a talk on Thomas Jefferson to a group of historians, Jefferson scholars, and trustees of Monticello. Also for reasons not clear to him at the time ("Sure ... That sounds like fun"), he accepted.
Alda came to understand that he accepted because the prospect terrified him. "Nothing feels as good to me as doing something I know how to do. But if I do it too many times, it feels easy and a little slick; it loses some of its pleasure." In the end he found a key to the meaning of Jefferson's life through the work of a scientist in China. I was interested in the way Alda challenged himself and coped with his fears, even if for me there was no "a-ha! moment" in the connection between Jefferson and the Chinese rice paddy.
In the chapter "Celebrity and its Discontents," Alda writes about his Grand Rounds lecture at Cornell Medical School. His subject: celebrity and its central role in modern life, from entertainment to politics to marketing. The points out the positive and negative impact on public health of celebrity role models and the personal challenge of being yourself when that isn't what the public wants of you. "The difficult part of celebrity," he writes, "is when you're recognized not for what you do, but simply for being famous." It's a chilling commentary on our modern values.
The final message of this book, Alda's distilled wisdom about life, is to NOTICE life. An excellent message, whether to a graduating class or to the readers of this book.
Rating: -
Alan Alda proves he can write as well as he can talk. This second memoir of his life experiences most notably speeches he had made i quite captivating and humorous. Alda shows that he is more than just a funny/compassionate doctor from his MASH days. He relates to experiences with Ossie Davis, Anne Bancroft, and his own family. Very gripping is hisown personal account of having intestinal blockage in the middle of South America and luckilly finding one of the best doctors to save his life. Also moving are his graduation speeches and the passion of hope he holds out for from new generations.
Alan Alda is a good man and its a true pleasure to read his thoughts.
Rating:  -
I have always loved Alan Alda, as a actor but most of all a human being who I would like to call my friend. In this book he compiles everything I would love to pass on to my children if I were telling them things I wanted them to learn from me. Luckily, Alan has had many more interesting experiences and thoughtful moments - and then thought them thru again and finally put them in a book I feel proud to pass on to my children.
If everyone in the world would only take time to listen and really hear the message - WOW - Alan what a wonderful world...
Rating: -
No matter how many times we hear about near-death experiences, we cannot appreciate the impact until it happens to us. Alan Alda's brush with a life-threatening crisis prompted him to delve more deeply into the serious questions that such an event often presents. Though he had already written a successful memoir, NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED, Alda takes that challenge and looks more closely at the things that have given meaning and purpose to his life and to recognize those things that he would like to define more clearly now that he has gotten a second chance.
It is refreshing to find that a man with the obvious successes that Alda has enjoyed can be humble enough to admit that he still has some learning to do. He still needs to be open to asking questions and listening to answers that can enhance not only his own life but the lives of the many who fall into his sphere of influence. Reading through his conversations with himself about these matters not only provides the fun of eavesdropping on one of our favorite celebrities but also gives us a nudge to be honest about our own conceptions.
THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF is written in the style of conversations with oneself and with others, interspersed with speeches that Alda has given on various occasions. It is not stream of consciousness because the syntax is clear, and there is no problem following his thoughts. Yet, as thoughts and conversations often do, subjects change quickly and jump from past to present and back again as reminiscences come to mind. Throughout this entertaining book, the themes remain clear: What are you doing with the life you've been given? Are you taking it for granted? What will you be remembered for?
While a survey once showed that Alda was found to be more recognizable as Hawkeye Pierce during his 11-year stint on "M*A*S*H" than Abraham Lincoln, he was surprised and wondered why. Despite the fact that he was nominated for an Oscar, and an Emmy and a Tony in his 69th year, Alda still had questions he hoped to answer for himself and to encourage others to answer as well. His search shows us that it's never too late to increase our self-awareness and to spread around some encouragement, some love and some life for those who may be in need. The only thing that surprises me is that, in all his musings, Alda did not reach back to the God of his earlier faith and try to reconnect. I'm just sayin'.
--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding
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