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  • Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

  • And Other Things I've Learned
  • By: Alan Alda
  • Narrated by: Marc Cashman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (39 ratings)
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Never Have Your Dog Stuffed cover art

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

By: Alan Alda
Narrated by: Marc Cashman
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Summary

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 11 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 6," 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.

©2005 Alan Alda (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's a brief but entertaining autobiography tempered with humility and a depth rarely found in celebrity memoirs." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Never Have Your Dog Stuffed

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

would have been better read by the author

Charming biography, but autobiography as an audio book needs to be read by the author, otherwise it loses something of its authenticity. I missed Alan Alda's distinctive voice on this.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Could have been amazing. Sad shame.

Totally not impressed with the narrator. UGH. Could have been amazing.
I would have given it no stars if i could have. I want a refund!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Read it don't listen

Really enjoyed the biography of Alda which I found facinating. The book was full of humour and anecdotes but these were ruined by the poor timing and monotonous sounding voice of the narrator. Shame Alda had not chosen to read his own book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Never a dull moment....

Would you consider the audio edition of Never Have Your Dog Stuffed to be better than the print version?

In my opinion a book comes much more to life in the audio version ..

What was one of the most memorable moments of Never Have Your Dog Stuffed?

I enjoyed the whole book. Never a dull moment.

What about Marc Cashman’s performance did you like?

He is a spendid narrator. Top marks to MC

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was a very touching book. Hearing about his mothers illness and his own insecurity in acting.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Like An Old Friend

What made the experience of listening to Never Have Your Dog Stuffed the most enjoyable?

Whatever I was doing, driving, commuting or with feet up this was really like sitting in a comfortable old armchair, with a nice fine Malt or Cognac and just being taken on a journey in which you could have been there.

Nothing earth-shattering ever happens, no impossible crises, dramas or cliff-hanger-chapter-endings. Instead we role gently through some ups and downs of everyday life - getting close to bad times but then being swept back to good memories.

And so it's a peaceful refuge, happy endings just round the corner and with the energy and amiability of the persona of Alda that you see, whether promoting science or being an alter ego.

So, don't get me wrong, a lot has happened in Alda's life, but as a read, or an audio book, it is a gently rolling soap opera that pleases and delights.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was over all too soon.

What about Marc Cashman’s performance did you like?

His cadence was just like listening to the author

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"And Other Things I've Learned"!

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