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    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned
    Unavailable
    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned
    Unavailable
    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned
    Audiobook8 hours

    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned

    Written by Alan Alda

    Narrated by Marc Cashman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    He's one of America's most recognizable and acclaimed actors-a star on Broadway, an Oscar nominee for The Aviator, and the only person to ever win Emmys for acting, writing, and directing, during his eleven years on M*A*S*H. Now Alan Alda has written a memoir as elegant, funny, and affecting as his greatest performances.

    "My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six," begins Alda's irresistible story. The son of a popular actor and a loving but mentally ill mother, he spent his early childhood backstage in the erotic and comic world of burlesque and went on, after early struggles, to achieve extraordinary success in his profession.

    Yet Never Have Your Dog Stuffed is not a memoir of show-business ups and downs. It is a moving and funny story of a boy growing into a man who then realizes he has only just begun to grow.

    It is the story of turning points in Alda's life, events that would make him what he is-if only he could survive them.

    From the moment as a boy when his dead dog is returned from the taxidermist's shop with a hideous expression on his face, and he learns that death can't be undone, to the decades-long effort to find compassion for the mother he lived with but never knew, to his acceptance of his father, both personally and professionally, Alda learns the hard way that change, uncertainty, and transformation are what life is made of, and true happiness is found in embracing them.

    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, filled with curiosity about nature, good humor, and honesty, is the crowning achievement of an actor, author, and director, but surprisingly, it is the story of a life more filled with turbulence and laughter than any Alda has ever played on the stage or screen.



    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 13, 2005
    ISBN9781415928530
    Unavailable
    Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned

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    Reviews for Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

    3.5/5

    299 ratings25 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Unsurprising to find the writer version is different from any of the characters we’ve seen him play. The real Alda is an interesting character with a personal lifestory that includes an early life in the wings, a crazy mother and the not uncommon early difficulties making a living at his art. An easy enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      A series of anecdotes about turning points in Alan Alda's life that made him who he is. Some are surprising (like wondering how he turned out so normal with the childhood he remembers) and others are witty.
    • 5/5
      Very funny and well written.
    • 4/5
      So. I totally loved this book. And if you are a fan of Alan Alda - whether through M*A*S*H or his stage work or his hosting work on PBS or whatever - you will probably love this book too. It had me alternating between laughing and crying and doing both at the same time. His writing style is rather brilliant and intelligent and sharp while still being humorous and easy to relate to - so like his most famous character, Hawkeye. Also, I adore the photos he included in the middle of the book; he was such a cute kid! I can't wait to pick up his second non-fiction book as soon as possible.
    • 2/5
      Autobiography. About his life with a mom who was crazy and a dad who did burlesque. Joe never really liked Alan Alda as an actor. Still does not like him.
    • 3/5
      Was not exactly what I expected but still a good read. Followed his life from childhood and spending time with his parents in vaudeville to being a struggling actor. As some have noted in other reviews this is not a biography of his time in the MASH series. This is discussed but briefly. So if your looking for the inside track on MASH this is not the book for you.
    • 3/5
      This was an OK book. Although I've always liked Alda, I guess I like him much more as an actor than a writer. I would say it was mildly amusing but I didn't feel an motivation to continue reading. I slogged through mainly because it was a discussion book for my book club.
    • 3/5
      Periodically throughout the book I would turn back and look at the front cover in order to remind myself that I was indeed reading the autobiography of Alan Alda, who is remembered not only for being the answer to every four-letter crossword question starting with A, but as the beloved Hawkeye from M*A*S*H.

      His has lived the most fantastical life. From making the newspapers as a two-year-old boy with a pipe smoking habit (also reported to have broken his mother's nose) to his attempt at beating the bookies by using a mathematical system at the track. His ability to comment on his own fallabilities and honestly explore the imperfections of his life makes for a truelly interesting story.

      Now I just want to go and wash old M*A*S*H reruns.

    • 5/5
      Brilliantly written. Don’t read for MASH because this is about the actor, and he’s had an amazing life.
    • 3/5

      This was an interesting look into the life of Alan Alda.  He was very candid about his relationship with his parents and his mother's mental illness.  He was also very candid about his acting experiences (both stage and screen).  The stories were blunt and had elements of humor.  My main problem is that the audio version was supposed to have been narrated by Alda himself, but it was narrated by another reader, Marc Cashman.  This was disappointing because Alda has a nuance to his voice that enhances his wit. I would have preferred to hear Alda narrate or to read the paper copy myself.

    • 2/5
      It was okay, and very much not what one thinks of when one thinks of celebrity memoirs. Alda's open, ingenuous, vulnerable and the personification of Sensitive New Age Kinda Guy, and therein lies my issue. He makes me tired, he's so good and sweet and caring. His stories are interesting and the narrator was decent, but it was all too ... soft, I guess, for my tastes. Shot through a silk stocking, with Vaseline around the edges of the lens.
    • 4/5
      Alan Alda is one of the most engaging actors I’ve seen; it was no surprise to learn that the outward twinkle is driven, in part, by an inward need to have, to control, and to please, an audience… he’s driven by other things, too, and his ability to break these factors down and present them to the reader makes this an honest and charming memoir. As sad as some parts of his personal history are, he doesn’t flinch in presenting them to the reader for mutual examination, and even laces them with humour to sweeten the harsher moments.I was surprised that there weren’t more details on his rise to film and television fame, only a few pages on the experience of working on M*A*S*H, a mere line or two on The West Wing and very little about the experience of working with other actors, which is remarkable considering how much of Alan Alda’s life has been spent acting. It’s refreshing not to read a gossipy (even a positively gossipy) celebrity memoir, and I enjoyed Alda’s focus on the things he learned about life, rather than on the purely superficial; but I picked the autobiography up because I am a fan of The West Wing and was hoping that his anecdotal approach to the personal would spill into the professional worlds that he has inhabited.Honestly, I think I’m just a little disappointed that there wasn’t more to this memoir because it was so readable.
    • 5/5
      I love Alan Alda's insight about life, and his writing is enjoyable to read. :-)
    • 4/5
      Don't read this book expecting the autobiography of Hawkeye Pierce, if you do you will be disappointed. It's about the man Alan Alda, the man behind the public image we have all grown up with, the man we all love for his ability to make us laugh. This book is at times humorous but not funny, sad but not depressing and full of insight and honesty. Alan's mother suffered from mental illness, "My mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six". And as such his way of looking at and dealing with life and it's problems, is full of understanding mixed with a little wisdom.
    • 2/5
      Meh! Not what I expected, found it rather uninteresting with the exception of several chapters. The only reason I picked up the book was my fondness of Alan Alda and his work for PBS along with MASH but I still ended up disappointed. I suspect, however, that I would have similar issues with any autobiography, not just Alda's (which is why I do not read them). Well, lesson learned, I will stick to his audiovisual work which I immensely enjoy.
    • 2/5
      Autobiography of author and actor Alan Alda[MASH}.Effect of unconventional upbringing on him.Mother with mental health issues and father travelling actor.Road to his success and his vision of life .Metaphor of stuffed dog of hanging on to and living in the past which he does not want to do.Believes one should move on .His own struggle to be spontaneous and compassionate.Also questions the validity of memories and what we see as our past.OK easy read but felt a little ambivalent about it all tho liked his stuffed dog idea.
    • 1/5
      I'll admit I don't like autobiographies anyway and I read this for a book club. But I expected more humor (a LOT more humor) from Alan Alda. Other than a few lines, it was pretty dull stuff. Alda is also surprisingly confused about his purpose in life. He qualifies his acting ability as an accident. He certainly doesn't seem to work at it and just accepts whatever roles he can get. After a life-changing experience, he knows he wants to live a purposeful life but doesn't quite seem to know how (or at least doesn't express it in the book). Perhaps the follow-up goes deeper.
    • 5/5
      Like umpteen zillion TV viewers, I grew up expecting to find Mr. Alda in our living room on a weekly basis for some 11 years of M*A*S*H, then the re-runs were a delight and cable/satellite still brings M*A*S*H along with his movies and science shows to be loved by young and old. His presence on the tube has been as reassuring as a pleasant family friend, and this autobiography is an extension of that easy familiarity--the uncle or brother we all wish we had. His book is a gift of himself--a sharing of philosophy, lessons of life, acts of compassion, and above all a sense of humor. Written with rare honesty and "completely unstuffed". Treat yourself and your friends to this satisfying read.
    • 4/5
      Alda's writing is as witty and warm as his acting and this book is full of wonderful and illuminating anecdotes. I was slightly disappointed that there was so little in here about his MASH years and next to nothing about his family. What's in here is gold, nevertheless.
    • 1/5
      I listened part way through the audio book which he reads. I found I had very little sympathy toward him or his family. He sounded pompous and what he seemed to find funny I found sad at best. It was certainly no way to grow up.
    • 3/5
      A happy story, a sad story, much like every human being's life. Imminently readable.
    • 5/5
      I have started reading, and had to stop. my heart throbs for the heartache he has taken in his life. I have followed him in movies and tv . I got to met him, we had to wait and wait and wait...... we made hats with our post it notes and he was wondering what it was...ok.. I did something " HE " did for me for many years... laugh. it was the most single experience in my life.
    • 4/5
      if you love alan alda - then this book is definitely interesting. i thought there would be a little more humor in the book, but i enjoyed the quick read. not a long drawn out biography - that is nice.
    • 4/5
      You can almost hear Alan Alda's voice as you read the words of his book. This work is a fascinating insight into the actor whom many Americans have grown up with. If you like Alan Alda, definitely worth reading.
    • 4/5
      Good book. Funny and entertaining.