Dick Van Dyke

Listening to Dick Van Dyke read this book of his is like listening to a beloved but kookie uncle ramble about all sorts of random things that come to his mind. I don’t know that my life is richer for having listened to it, but it was an okay way to spend a few hours. I think Dick’s message can be boiled down to this: Don’t forget to LIVE your life.

That all said, there are some douchey parts - his stealing the show at his wife’s dance performance immediately comes to mind. I also have a really hard time getting past the idea that his wife is 46 years younger than him. I mean, it’s none of my business, but… ick.… (more)

Part memoir, part book of advice, I chose to listen to the audiobook, which Dick Van Dyke reads himself. Though I’m a few years younger than the book’s primary audience, I still enjoyed the advice, humor, and sections about Van Dyke’s life. As can often happen when you don’t already know much (if anything) about an actor’s real self and tend to conflate his/her on-screen appearances with real life, it was a bit jarring to hear some of the things about his life. However, I’ve read reviews for the full memoir he wrote a few years before this, and it sounds like this is pretty tame in comparison. I had planned to read that too, but I think I’ll leave it at this.

Some of my favorite parts involved Van Dyke’s brother Jerry Van Dyke, who seems to have a considerably different (and quite humorous) outlook on getting older. I was particularly surprised to learn that Van Dyke has never had any formal dance training; I am one, apparently of many, who always assumed he had. I appreciate parts of his outlook on life, while some of his take on politics and religion left me shaking my head. When he basically says that no one can really know the truth about God, I think to myself, “Is that the truth?” It’s an age-old argument that probably never solves anything, though. In the end, I mostly enjoyed this book, and if you plan to read it, I highly recommend the audiobook.… (more)