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 eleven 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 six,” 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.

From the Hardcover edition.

他是美国最知名和最受赞誉的演员之一--百老汇的明星，《飞行者》的奥斯卡提名者，也是唯一一个在《M*A*S*H》的11年中获得艾美奖的演员、编剧和导演的人。现在，艾伦-阿尔达写了一本回忆录，就像他最伟大的表演一样优雅、有趣和有影响力。

"我的母亲直到我六岁时才试图刺伤我的父亲，"阿尔达的故事开始时令人无法抗拒。他是一个受欢迎的演员和一个充满爱心但患有精神疾病的母亲的儿子，他在色情和滑稽的歌舞剧世界的后台度过了他的童年，并在早期挣扎之后，在他的职业中取得了非凡的成功。

然而，《永远不要把你的狗塞进去》不是一本关于演艺界起伏的回忆录。它是一个动人而有趣的故事，讲述一个男孩成长为一个男人，然后意识到他才刚刚开始成长。

这是阿尔达生命中的转折点的故事，这些事件将使他成为现在的样子--只要他能活下来。

从小时候他的死狗从标本店被送回来，脸上带着狰狞的表情，他了解到死亡是无法挽回的，到几十年来努力寻找对与他生活在一起但从未了解的母亲的同情，再到他在个人和职业上接受他的父亲，阿尔达艰难地了解到，变化、不确定性和转变是生命的组成部分，而真正的幸福是在拥抱它们的时候找到的。

永不养狗》充满了对自然的好奇心、良好的幽默感和诚实，是一位演员、作家和导演的最高成就，但令人惊讶的是，它是一个比阿尔达在舞台或银幕上扮演的任何角色都更加充满动荡和欢笑的人生故事。

摘自精装版。