Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself

''The message is consistent: it''s not what you do in life, but how you do it. Notice everything. Always be open to new ideas, new experiences. Alda is chatty, easygoing and humble ... His words of inspiration would be a perfect gift.'' Publishers Weekly Acclaimed actor and internationally bestselling author Alan Alda has written a shrewd and funny account of some impossible questions he''s asked himself over the years: what do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? (And what does that even mean?) Here, Alda listens in on things he''s heard himself saying at critical points in his life - from the turbulence of the 60s, to his first Broadway show, to the birth of his children, and to the ache of September 11. He notices that ''doorways are where the truth is told'', and wonders what one thing - art, activism, family, money, fame - could lead to a ''life of meaning''. In a book that is candid, wise and as questioning as it is incisive, Alda amuses and moves us with his uniquely witty meditations on questions great and small.