On the heels of his acclaimed memoir, Never Have Your Dog
Stuffed, beloved actor and bestselling author Alan Alda has written
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, an insightful and funny
look at some of the impossible questions he’s asked himself over
the years: What do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? And
what does that even mean?
Picking up where his bestselling memoir left off–having been
saved by emergency surgery after nearly dying on a mountaintop in
Chile–Alda finds himself not only glad to be alive but searching
for a way to squeeze the most juice out of his new life. Looking
for a sense of meaning that would make this extra time count, he
listens in on things he’s heard himself saying in private and in
public at critical points in his life–from the turbulence of the
sixties, to his first Broadway show, to the birth of his children,
to the ache of September 11, and beyond. Reflecting on the
transitions in his life and in all our lives, he notices that
“doorways are where the truth is told,” and wonders if there’s one
thing–art, activism, family, money, fame–that could lead to a “life
of meaning.”
In a book that is candid, wise, and as questioning as it is
incisive, Alda amuses and moves us with his unique and hilarious
meditations on questions great and small. Things I Overheard While
Talking to Myself is another superb Alan Alda performance, as
inspiring and entertaining as the man himself.
From the Hardcover edition.