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Rating:  -
"Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" is a philosophy book. Yes, really. It is about meanings and values and thinking and learning from experience. True "meaning of life" stuff. Literally. But, be undaunted -- it is done with fun, humor, warmth and sensitivity. In plain English. It's full of fascinating stories drawn from the author's own life; a richly interesting life.
Alan Alda looks at his own writings from the past -- his speeches -- in which he has publicly declared his philosophies of life. He quotes from those speeches he has selected as representative of his quest for meaning in life. And he intersperses them with relevant vignettes from his experience. In that way, he examines his own values and the sources of those values.
He reveals himself as a lifelong learner, a man of insatiable curiosity engaged in an incessant search for knowledge and understanding -- especially self-knowledge -- and insight. He shows his penchant for rigorous research in his gathering facts and statistical support for his ideas and conclusions. It is easy to see how he might have wished to be a scientist at times, since he proceeds so much like one in preparing speeches. (And I'm sure his 11 years of interviewing scientists for Scientific American Frontiers contributed to his methodological and empirical approach.) He does what he has suggested scientists do. He takes complex information, ideas and analyses and converts them into stories, analogies and mental images that make them understandable and relevant to the average guy or gal.
So, he models for you how to approach the search for meaning and values in life and how to think about what you find in that search. All the while, he is entertaining you as well with his own search, his own findings and his own conclusions.
By the time I finished the book, I was sure that the people who are the author's friends are lucky folk. What a pleasure it must be to just have a chat with someone who takes such care with his thinking and such time to craft his thoughts into usable insights he shares without defense. Ah well, the rest of us have his book.
Rating:  -
What is the meaning of life? What is the good life? Does your life have meaning? Countless people have posed this question and tried to answer it, and Alan Alda takes a crack at it in his latest book of essays, Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.
Armed with commencement speeches, eulogies, and decades of memories, Alda leads us on a tour of his own life's lessons. It's similar to sitting on the living room floor in front of the fireplace while Grandpa delivers cautionary tales. That is, if Grandpa were a famous actor. With Hollywood and Broadway as a backdrop, Grandpa's stories about his life add another dimension of celebrity to those tales.
Virtually every chapter is crafted to begin and end with a specific theme, accompanied by a speech or two that demonstrates that theme. One thought-provoking point includes the hypocrisy of ranking of our values while spending an inversely proportionate amount of time on things that do not support those values. Alda clearly ranks family, love, environmental responsibility, ethics, equal rights, and self-determination high on his list of values. Like many parents, his first conclusion to the meaning of life was the birth of his first child. Many years later, he delivers a speech to a graduating class whose audience includes her. He advises us to not force our children into some mold but to simply love them.
Alda conveys the insightful lesson that while you can't save the world, you can make a difference in another person's life. Or ten people. Or more. Stop complaining and start doing. You and the people you help are better off each time you do. Like interest over time, it all adds up to something significant and measurable. Be patient, Alda says.
Much of Alda's wisdom is accompanied by humility, a key factor in making his claims of such wisdom credible. Some writers spew forth their knowledge as if they were born with it, and it is therefore not to be questioned. Alda's stories are honest demonstrations of fallibility and full of passion. While the speeches themselves are at times platitudinous, that's what speeches are, and in this book they are framed as such. Still, it does take a little away from the enjoyment of Alda's storytelling and as a result is slightly less entertaining than his previous book, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed.
As each chapter comes full circle in theme, so too, does the book as a whole. His final chapter begins as a commencement speech to the reader but includes a poignant one he delivered at a college in 2003. It is in this same changing pattern that he tries to tell us what the meaning of life is. It comes across as: Life is this; well, actually maybe it's this; oh yeah, and this. He tries to boil it down to just a few words and ultimately one word. The reader may get the feeling that Alda still hasn't quite made up his mind and, given more time, he would resummarize it, and maybe that's the point. But while he may have a different decision in his next book, the answer still wouldn't change for us: that we define our own meaning. It is not intended as a cop-out but just the simple truth.
Come next June, when you're looking for a graduation gift, this book is packed with entertaining advice to send them out into the real world. It's surprising that the marketing wizards behind this book's publication didn't schedule its release with that in mind.
Reviewed by Margaret Andrews for Curled Up With A Good Book
Rating: -
"Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" is really an invitation to see how Alda's mind works; his philosophical outlook, what excites him, what he values, etc. His advice to his daughter, Eve, about the importance of making distinctions because "A peach is not its fuzz, a toad is not its warts, a person is not his or her crankiness" is advice from which we could all learn and grow. As to the one reviewer here who gave a negative review, from reading said review, it is obvious that this person got caught up in the minutia of the fuzz and failed to see this book for what it is: an exquisitely ripened peach.
In an excerpt from Alan Alda's commencement address at Eve's graduation, he talked about the need for people to question their "assumptions" because our assumptions are our windows through which we view the world...he also talked about the happiness found in existentialism because life is what you make of it. For those of you who have read the books of Barry Neil Kaufman, you will likely find a delightful synergy of outlook.
Most of one chapter is about Alda's fascination with Richard Feynman....the chapter is so intriguing that the next book I plan to read is about Richard Feynman. In the this book, you learn about Alan, but also about things that you didn't expect, like when Alan went in search of a greater understanding of Thomas Jefferson by talking to scientists in China. He reaches into the dark and pulls out something magnificent that nobody else would have found.
"Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" starts you thinking about what you value and what excites you. As much as I loved "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed", I LOVE this new book even more! This book is clearly from Alan Alda's heart and it goes straight to the reader's heart...indeed, you may find your heart is much fuller; I did...I took the "random walk" and discovered an amazing peach! So, my advice to people considering reading this book is simply take a bite, embrace the richness of the flavor and delicious sensation as its juice spills in you and washes over you!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!
Rating: -
Well, frankly, I hardly know where to begin. I am not accustomed to reading books by celebrities in the entertainment industry. I was asked if I was interested in reading and reviewing Alan Alda's newest book and I said "OK," maybe just out of a need for something "lighter" for a change, after reading and reviewing so many "serious" books by philosophers, historians, political pundits, and others who write "serious" books. Besides, I always admired Alda as an actor on TV and in films. So, I have read "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" and was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed the book, even though I knew in advance that Mr. Alda and I often differ widely regarding our respective political and social positions on many issues of the day. I was already aware (thanks to the maniacal news media, of course) that the star of one of my favorite TV shows way back when -- "M*A*S*H" -- was considered a "modern" liberal and I, of course, being a "classical" liberal, had to adjust my thinking and reset my ideological thermometer in the interest of fair play and a fair review.
No problem, really. Regardless of being separated somewhat on the sociopolitical spectrum, I found many of Alda's views to be interesting and thought-provoking. Let's give him the credit he is due; he really does have some serious things to say about important things. My impression is that he sincerely thinks through his positions on social and political matters and forms his opinions after critically examining the facts he analyzes. This does not mean his views are correct or the best obtainable, but it does mean he is not indulging in "mere" opinion for opinion's sake (contrary to some recent Hollywood types!). I think it would be delightful to sit down with him and converse about the issues he talks about in his book. I suspect, and I base this purely on the attitude he presents which comes through a reading of his book, that it would be a most respectful discussion. I do not detect a "mean" bone in his body (or mind) and, considering that today the media are so filled with crass talk and personal attacks, it would be refreshing to discourse with and disagree with someone in a courteous environment.
That being said, this is not really an autobiography or memoir in any strict sense; it is, for the most part, a compilation of speeches and talks he has given in various venues, ranging from academic institutions to scholarly organizations, along with much commentary and personal anecdotes in between. The book is, in a very genuine way, a celebration of life as Alda sees it after recovering from a near fatal experience with an intestinal obstruction while traveling in Chile -- facing death on the top of a mountain no less! Emergency surgery took care of that problem, but then the questions begin. What is of real value? What has real meaning? What is a life well lived? And so on and on. Now, I can relate to these questions and I think I can understand what he went through to some extent. Only two years separate us in age (he is, however, older than I am!). We are both at that point in life where these sorts of questions somehow magically appear, particularly after a personal traumatic event (his intestinal obstruction, my heart attacks).
What does matter, and I think this comes through in his book quite clearly, is to maintain a sense of balance and, maybe even more importantly, a sense of humor. Alan Alda is funny; no doubt about that. I think I am often funny, too (although I'll never make the Comedy Club!). He exhibits what I call a "lighthearted" persona while not denigrating the seriousness of most of the issues he comments upon. I think I generally have that same disposition. It is always worthwhile to read what someone else, especially one who has spent threescore and ten years on this sometimes frustrating planet of ours, has to say, particularly when that someone has truly thought deeply about the matters that, well, matter most: values, integrity, truth, meaning, purpose, ethics, family, friends, and so on.
"Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself" was mainly a pleasant diversion for me. It was probably a well-needed vacation from my usual literary fare. I had watched Alan Alda as an accomplished actor on both the small screen and large screen for many years. While reading his book, I got to know Alan Alda the person, and friend, and father, and just plain nice human being. If he really is, as some of his more vocal critics have charged, simply a "naïve Hollywood liberal," then he is my sort of naïve Hollywood liberal, despite our political differences. I don't have to agree with someone to respect them, to love them, to care about them, or be their friend. In fact, some of the worst people I have dealt with are those who mostly agree with me.
If you are into books by celebrities, you'll most likely love this book. If not, it's a toss-up. All I can say is that I did enjoy the book even though it's not in one of my usual literary categories of interest. Some of this may be due to the fact that I watched Alan Alda for so many years and enjoyed his performance as "Hawkeye" on that now-classic television series, recently named one of the top 100 TV shows of all time by "Time" magazine. Maybe I was already primed to enjoy Alda's book just because I was a fan of his. I don't know and it really doesn't matter. It's good leisure reading and thought-provoking, too. Therefore, I am recommending it to all readers, even those I know will find fault with it. I have a feeling that Alan Alda will survive their objections to his political and social views.
Rating:  -
This book seems like a collection of discarded paragraphs. Sure, his speech patterns recall his acting persona, but the book is disappointing. Great topic, poor writing. In one account, a script he wrote is edited, he asks the editor, "what are the "O's" written the margin?" The editor said, "They stand for omit". I guess the writer did not have a good editor for this book, too bad.
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