Terrifying himself to feel alive
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THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF is a great example of recycling done right. Each of the sixteen chapters is built around a commencement speech or other talk given by Alan Alda, but with a wealth of new material from him on the Meaning Of Life.
It's a difficult topic but Alda has as much right as anyone to give it a crack. He builds on his near-death experience in Chile and tells stories of his childhood, his family, his career, and people who touched his life. In each case the story is entwined with the speech to illustrate a life lesson. The editing may be a bit loose in some cases, and the book meanders toward a conclusion, as if you were taking a leisurely stroll with a wise and confident friend.
An example of Alda's meandering is the chapter named "A Passion for Reason." For reasons not made entirely clear, he was asked to give a talk on Thomas Jefferson to a group of historians, Jefferson scholars, and trustees of Monticello. Also for reasons not clear to him at the time ("Sure ... That sounds like fun"), he accepted.
Alda came to understand that he accepted because the prospect terrified him. "Nothing feels as good to me as doing something I know how to do. But if I do it too many times, it feels easy and a little slick; it loses some of its pleasure." In the end he found a key to the meaning of Jefferson's life through the work of a scientist in China. I was interested in the way Alda challenged himself and coped with his fears, even if for me there was no "a-ha! moment" in the connection between Jefferson and the Chinese rice paddy.
In the chapter "Celebrity and its Discontents," Alda writes about his Grand Rounds lecture at Cornell Medical School. His subject: celebrity and its central role in modern life, from entertainment to politics to marketing. The points out the positive and negative impact on public health of celebrity role models and the personal challenge of being yourself when that isn't what the public wants of you. "The difficult part of celebrity," he writes, "is when you're recognized not for what you do, but simply for being famous." It's a chilling commentary on our modern values.
The final message of this book, Alda's distilled wisdom about life, is to NOTICE life. An excellent message, whether to a graduating class or to the readers of this book.
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