Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself by Alan Alda Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
Book Review: I'd Forgotten Why I Got Tired With Alan Alda
Summary: 3 Stars
...until I listened to his most recent book. It's really my fault: the guy just wears me out.
That's not to say that this is a bad effort. It's essentially a collection of his commencement addresses from the 1970s to the present, with a little business in between. In it, though, we learn the three secrets of happiness:
1. Love unequivocally: surrender yourself to love.
2. Keep learning: think for yourself and don't let anyone else do it for you.
3. I forgot the third.
He's a man of inexhaustible curiosity and self-confidence. We learn of his showbiz roots, and the influence stage business and acting have on his development as a person. His reflections on the satisfactions of acting are, in fact, some of the best stuff in the book.
He just makes me tired for some reason. Maybe it's the relentless NYC "in yer face" style of writing and (on the audio edition) reading that is so wearing. I envy his energy.
Remember the saying, "I couldn't put it down." Well, in Alan Alda's case, if you don't take occasional breaks, you could have a heart attack...
Book Review: Heart-warming
Summary: 5 Stars
Alan Alda says much about life and attitudes, and the warmth and value of those we know and love. This is a gift to enjoy. It's a piece of life valued even higher than usual, as it was written with the clarity of someone who recieved the gift of life extended in good health, after a frightening medical event, and who translated that into wisdom.Book Review: Keep talking and overhearing, Mr. Alda!
Summary: 5 Stars
Alan Alda demonstrates his remarkably elastic, relational mind once again in THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF. He "welds" a full-size book onto a framework of commencement and other speeches he gave over the years, keeping to a loose theme of asking what makes life worth living. In sixteen chapters (each one a self-sufficient essay), he forays into 9/11, the value of science and reason, his relationship with his business manager, celebrity, the deaths of three famous people, time with his grandchildren, and quite a few other topics. At times, the theme meanders away to allow other ideas to take pride of place, and occasionally the transitions within the chapters lurch a bit. But in the main, it's a joy to read these thoughts of a man who is a born communicator.
Here's a favorite passage, "...I saw that this was a story of the fours seasons of friendship: spring, where everyone is fresh and attractive and new to one another; summer, where the glare of the sun begins to show everyone's blemishes; autumn, where the fig leaves finally fall and you see who they really are; and the winter of friendship, where you either drop them and start all over again with another springtime set of friends or take them as they are and huddle against the cold winds of aging."
And another, more cerebral one: "Over the centuries, like continental drift, the landmasses of science and the humanities, once united in an Eden called Pangaea, had separated and developed their own intellectual flora and fauna, becoming home to mutually alien species of thought. Where once those interested in humanity could mix freely with those interested in the rest of nature, now an ocean of strangeness separated us."
THINGS I OVERHEARD luxuriates in making unusual connections as it explores what makes life "good." Alda knows how to entertain and educate. He stimulates all the emotions like a talented piano player tickling the ivories. And he never forgets his humanity -- or ours.
4.5 stars.
Book Review: Simple, deep, moving, and inspirational. And at the same time warm and funny.
Summary: 5 Stars
Alan gives us a very personal insight into the meaning of life, or more accurately what it is to be human. He takes us along on his own personal journey in search of the meaning of life only to find that the existentialists he read in his youth were right: there is no inherent meaning to life. He found freedom in this philosophy in his youth, yet still spent many years in search of meaning, or as the Greeks said it "The Good Life". He refers to many great thinkers of the past, including Shakespeare. Alan doesn't reference this specific quote, but I think his advice from the book can best be summed up by Shakespeare as "to thine own self be true."
He shares numerous anecdotes about the joys and challenges of being a child, a parent, husband, grandparent and friend. Some are funny, some are sad, some are shocking, but all are windows into our shared humanity.
Truly one of the most engaging books I've read in quite a while. If you like Alan or simply enjoy being human, read the book -- you won't be disappointed.
Book Review: Interesting Thoughts
Summary: 4 Stars
Alda is amazing at merging humor with deep thought. That mixture definitely makes you take note of his attitude toward life. This book contains separate antidotes and stories about some of the speeches that Alda has given and how he has learned from them. He goes into more depth about his speeches and sets up stories for each of them so that you get both a deeper meaning to his point and to his life. I don't recommend this book to those who don't want a pep-talk, but it would be great for those in the scientific or art field of which he discusses often. The only reason I did not give it a perfect score is because I found myself often getting tired of the "be the best you can be" type rhetoric found throughout the book. I agreed completely with Alda's philosophy on life. I have believed that we are here for the experiences and it is my goal to experience those things that interest me most including love and helping others.