Alan Alda Book:

				Publisher: ARROW BOOKS LTD Salesrank: 1097449
		Used Price: $0.07
		Media: Paperback

NEVER HAVE YOUR DOG STUFFED Reviews:
stuffed dog
2009-10-06 - First time ever to order using Amazon. The process is very simple and efficient. Alda's book speaks about life lessons he learned growing up, acting, parenting and writing. Laugh out loud funny at times. Quite poignant at others. The man is as deep as the serious side of his character, Hawkeye Pierce. But it's not about Hawkeye! Thanks Amazon and thank you Mr. Alda!


I couldn't put it down!!!
2009-09-12 - I am not usually a reader of biography/autobiography, but at the recommendation of a friend I picked this up. I have only three words to say about it--best thing ever. It is funny, thought-provoking, and entertaining as hell.

Like a macaroon
2009-08-01 - The book is an almost-perfect confection. Delicious, but something, something is .... missing.

Mr. Alda's writing style is clear, clean. I like the philosophical jewels he tucks into a paragraph for readers to pick up or not. Some of his imagery is superb. On Larry Gelbart fixing a script: "Larry would come right over on his bicycle, take out his wrench, and reach into the speech to tighten a word here or knock a phrase sideways there, and pretty soon it was sailing again."

When I read the story of his poor, dead, stuffed dog, I felt a little underwhelmed, and wondered how he would use the story later to warrant its place in the book's title. Well, he did carry that off quite well, and without hitting the reader over the head with the lessons.

I was touched by Mr. Alda's descriptions of his relationship with each of his parents, the father he adored/competed with/sometimes looked down on, and the mother he hated/loved. I felt sad for the tragedy of his mother's mental illness: the rage he felt toward her, but also the prison in which she resided without treatment.

I laughed out loud when he told the story about pulling the cockroach out of his pants pocket while on stage.

Although Mr. Alda allows the reader glimpses of his life with Arlene and their daughters, I wish there had been more depth there, and I think this could have been possible without compromising their privacy. Did Arlene continue with her music? How did she come to be a children's book author and photographer (as revealed only on the book jacket)? Did his daughters produce the seven grandchildren by immaculate conception or were there partners involved - I mean, he names the grandchildren, but there is utterly no mention of their fathers. He makes reference to getting the girls somewhat involved in acting when they were adolescents, but then makes no mention of their professional lives later.

Touching and hilarious
2009-04-10 - Not only is Alan Alda smart and funny on TV and in movies, but he's a terrific writer. His life hasn't been an easy one but he persisted with optimism and garnered plenty of wisdom and lots of laughs from his experiences.

Speaking about mental illness and learning to listen
2009-02-11 - When I was 11 or 12 years old I discovered M*A*S*H. I've seen every episode multiple times - so many that it's sometimes difficult to watch anymore. But I've always felt that Hawkeye had a distinct impression upon my own sense of humor; at times a little sarcastic but generally what I like to think is somewhat sophisticated (my wife would disagree while rolling her eyes). So after hearing Alan Alda on the radio I thought this might be an interesting book.

This isn't what you typically imagine when you think of a Hollywood memoir. Maybe that's because (I think) Alan Alda is truly a nice guy. He and his wife of 50 years have raised three daughters, and when he talks of some of the conditions that she put up with it's obvious he knows how lucky he is to have her. But he also discusses his childhood with a father in burlesque and a schizophrenic mother and relates a series of memories and events that shaped him as an adult. When his dog died his father had it stuffed at the taxidermist rather than face the tears while they tried to bury it, and he uses this to illustrate the futility in trying to hang onto things that are gone - a recurrent theme in this book. He also talks about some of the hard feelings he had for his parents, and how he regrets the things that were left unsaid after they had passed away. He doesn't discuss M*A*S*H in great detail (and there's no bad-mouthing his fellow actors here) but what he said was nice to hear. He talks more about his involvement with the PBS show "Scientific American Frontiers" and his brush with death with an obstructed bowel while filming in Chile.

And while I was a little put off by the tone of the book in the beginning (there's occasional profanity and some things sounded like he was just trying to be funny instead of really saying anything) it felt like he was just having a conversation with you. I listened to it on CD and I wish it had been read by Alda himself, but I eventually got past that as well. In fact, by the end, I actually felt like I kind of knew the guy, even though it was obvious that he was using caution in what he revealed. But he sounded like the kind of person you'd be happy to have as a friend, even if he is sort of crazy.