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: Alan Alda's Latest Book
Summary: 3 Stars
I learned about Alan Alda's latest book by listening to an interview with him on National Public Radio (NPR). He was talking about his near death experience and what he had learned from it. It was my understanding, after listening to the interview, that this was what gave him the impetus to write this book. However, in the book he talks very little about that event and spends most of his time talking about his life and especially the commencement speeches that he has given. In fact, a good protion of the book is taken up with the text of these speeches. Not that they are not interesting and, in some cases, cause you to think about life and life events, some of them are not easy to follow or just not very interesting. Although he doesn't spend a lot of time talking about them, there are what some would label "liberal agendas" that he supports and mentions (briefly) in some chapter. I happen to agree with most of what he says and supports, but others may not. To his credit, the final chapter finally pulls all of his thoughts together and makes the book worth the read. It's definitely not a "page-turner" but it is interesting to learn more about the life of one of our great actors, who also is a smart man with some thoughts on life that he wishes to share with others. I found this book to be a significant improvement over one of his other books, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, which I thought just rambled from subject to subject with no connection between chapters.Book Review: Humor and Wisdom are Linked
Summary: 5 Stars
Alan Alda has proved once again that the funny man can also be the wise man. Using his impressive list of Graduation speeches this most popular star of MASH is a true humorist. He can laugh at himself and other things he loves, and go on loving them. It is such a treat to read a book by a celebrity that is in his own words and the result of his meditation and deep concentration on the most important parts of living a human life. If you would like a large porition of entertainment and an even larger portion of Wisdom read this charming book. What he heard while talking to himself was well worth putting into the printed word.Book Review: Memoir Based On Speeches
Summary: 5 Stars
THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF, in which Alan Alda uses commencement addresses he's given as springboards for autobiographical essays, is a quick read, frequently amusing, provocative, and well written. It's dense without being preachy; it reads much like Sidney Poitier's THE MEASURE OF A MAN. Alda has used his opportunities to speak to stretch himself, and he's still stretching.
My favorite sentence is "One of my flaws, which I consider charming, is that I don't mind appearing smarter than I am." My two favorite chapters are "Love Your Art, Poor as It May Be" and "Celebrity and Its Discontents." I'm looking forward to reading Alda's earlier book NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED.
Book Review: Half way through
Summary: 2 Stars
I got half way through the CD's, and I did not bother listening to the second half; that pretty much sums up my opinion. I still would want
him to perform my surgery.
Book Review: Hawkeye as Alan Alda
Summary: 3 Stars
Personally I am not a big fan of celebrity autobiography. However I am a big fan of Dr. Hawkeye Pierce a very human surgeon in a M*A*S*H unit in Korea during the Korean War. This was a popular television series that ran for eleven years. It is a comedy, like ER in a War Zone, and House, MD with his attitudes all rolled up in one.
I have not read his previous autobiography Never Have Your Dog Stuffed to which this book is a sequel. Alda ended his last book by relating his experience of almost dying on a mountaintop in Chile. He was saved by emergency surgery.
In this book, Alda records that he had been changed by his near death experience. He begins to ask himself, two questions:
(1) What do I value?
(2) What exactly is the good life? (And what does that even mean?)
Alan wrote about the various experiences he had, especially on occasions when he that to give a speech, and there were many, in which he tried to explain about his values and what he regarded as a good life. On a few occasions, he also shared about what he had shared with his children.
Basically the values he espoused are very humanistic values of doing good whenever possible. In this book, he did not touch on his religious beliefs. And the good life is living life to the fullest. In between stories of his acting experiences, his friends, and his questioning, we can catch a little glimmer of Alan Alda, the man behind the actor.