Alan Alda - "Never have your dog stuffed"

Today I've finished reading Alan Alda's biography "Never have your dog stuffed" and felt sorry about it. Michael Parkinson characterised it "a fascinated read about a fascinated life". And I can't but agree with him.

Usually biographies are interesting in themselves just because of the scale of personality or the events described in the book. This is not an exception. Alan Alda is a perfect person for a biography. Actor in numerous plays and movies, among them the superpopular TV-series M*A*S*H*, playwright, director, writer, the host of the TV programme on science, and all this judging by the book he did with vivid interest, ingenuity and passion for the job - it's enough for the most fascinating life.

Add to this the style in which the book is written. Wry humour, colourful descriptions that help the reader create in his imagination any picture Mr. Alda draws, merciless scrutiny of his own thoughts, opinions, actions - in an amazing way Mr. Alda's autobiography is so subjective as in sharing the innate emotions of the writer, revealing so much of himself in this razor-sharp, smart, very emotional writing of his but at the same time as objective as humanly possible because every idea is thoroughly analysed before acknowledging its right to exist, every mistake is harshly criticised, every dellusion mocked.

As I read on, Alan Alda's biography gradually stopped just being a biography for me and melted into a philosophical novel based on real events. It's the kind of writing that forces you to forget daily trifles and relish the pleasure of pure thinking or pure feeling. It's the kind of writing that connects you with the writer, makes you feel everything he writes about is relevant to you and to an awful lot of other people. It's fascinating, profound and inspirational, in other words, a must read.