The story of his life is a story many regular people can relate to: his upbringing in the Catholic schools; being bullied and having to figure out how to outsmart the bullies; his pain over his mother and her inability to deal with the life that his actor father had brought to the table for them to live. He has certainly not had the world handed to him, but had had to scrape and push with courage to achieve all of his accomplishments.

Having a show business father didn't help him. When he needed help, it was not forthcoming, and when it was there, he had to pay for it. It could almost be said that he grew up the hard way, but that is not really the truth either. It all came together for him and made him into a very affable, understanding, compassionate man who learned about the hard things early on and took the lessons to heart. This book will make you appreciate every scene of his - directed by or acted in - that you have ever watched on the television screen or in a movie.

Alan Alda is a classy man, with a heart that he shows very easily and uses all of that compassion he has learned in everything he does. As I read this book, I could hear the timbre of his voice telling the stories, and I could hear into his soul as he searched for the meanings behind the stories.

It's a heartwarming, funny, witty, tear-jerking, memorable, laugh-out-loud, great read. Hats off to Mr. Alda for another great accomplishment. Get ready to sit down and read straight through Never Have Your Dog Stuffed with a cup of coffee, a tissue and a warm fuzzy blanket. You will love it, especially if you love, respect, or applaud the man.

The one thing that I am very happy he didn't do in this book was to rehash his movie and cinematic career highlights or how he got to where he is in the "business." This book is about the person inside we all feel as though we know very well, what made him, who he was and why he was this way. It was about his real life, not the staged one that the public saw on the screen.