Product Description

From the internationally bestselling author and beloved actress comes a brilliantly fun-loving and inspiring story of unconditional love.

Shirley MacLaine has found a perfect love in the furry bundle of irresistible canine charms that is Terry. With her winning terrier ways and an endless wellspring of love with no strings attached, Terry has succeeded in doing what no one before her ever has: slowing Shirley's peripatetic travels, shifting the actress/author's global axis to hearth and home. Now there are few greater pleasures for Shirley than being with Terry on her ranch or on a New York street, romping on the beach together, or sharing a long plane ride to a new location for making a film. With Terry by her side, Shirley sees the world in new ways she never thought possible.

As we join Shirley and Terry we see through their eyes how they each provide a window for exploring the nature of love. Together they shared at least one past life in ancient Egypt, and possibly more. Together, too, they seek to understand world events today: Are we beginning to fulfill the ancient biblical prophecies? Is Armageddon looming? And of course there is Terry as a constant gateway to spirit, to being fully in each moment, to that boundless love that surpasses all understanding. In a unique twist that makes this book such a delight, we see Terry's point of view on Shirley's domestic and inner life, as the terrier's mistress continually questions the deeper nature of reality.

This book is an utterly charming, witty, and ultimately wise memoir of one of the truly remarkable women of our time. Out on a Leash is an irresistible bonbon for the legions of MacLaine readers, and for dog lovers everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1047892 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The latest addition to actress MacLaine's New Age/autobiography oeuvre (Going Within; My Lucky Stars, etc.) is an excellent example of what can happen when a book exists because of its author's fame instead of her dedication to the craft of writing. Wandering, incoherent and self-congratulatory, MacLaine's 10th book will not earn her new fans. The book alternates between MacLaine's own voice and that of her dog, Terry, with whom the author communicates in "humanimal," which, she says, is a "purer, more direct form of language" than English. Her devotion to Terry is somewhat unnerving; she calls the pet her "heart" and her "new daughter"; later she explains "I know Terry senses my thoughts" and avers that Terry is "holy." MacLaine uses Terry's 'voice' to point out what a good actress "Mistress Mother" is, to reveal their past lives together in ancient Egypt, and to articulate the opinions that "we never die" and that "nothing is evil." In her own voice, MacLaine shares more of her belief system-an apparent combination of Nostradamus' predictions, Hopi and Mayan prophecies, Edgar Cayce's channelings, Egyptian mythology and the Bible. Along the way, we get brief glimpses of MacLaine's life that might have proved interesting if they had been developed (e.g., "I missed a lot in my daughter's life but I did it to avoid imposing on her"), as well as her disconnected musings on nature, the Iraqi war ("I see signs that we are on the cusp of a new and devastating reality"), and dog and human sex. MacLaine's books have consistently sold well; no doubt those readers who enjoyed her previous volumes will find Terry's musings on life fascinating as well.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Shirley MaClaine, Oscar winner, three-time Emmy winner, and ten-time Golden Globe winner, has appeared in more than fifty films, has been nominated for an Academy Award six times, and received the Oscar for Best Actress in 1984. A longtime outspoken advocate for civil rights and liberties, women's rights, and spiritual understanding, Shirley MacLaine has sold more than twenty million copies of her nine international bestsellers, which include her most recent success, The Camino.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

When our children grow up and leave home to raise families of their own, and the past becomes a memory of things we are no more, we are faced with inventing a new future. This is the moment when we are finally free to make choices outside the powerful tug of expectation, ambition, and struggle. We have reached what I call the age of reason. Now we can choose to live not for others, but for ourselves, and we can take time to explore a life of inner knowledge for which we were always too busy.

For me the chaos of city life, heightened by the fear of terrorism and the culture of technology that forced me to remember codes and numbers to access even my own personal information, further pushed me to reevaluate what life should be about. I realized I was inundated by information and misinformation from our leadership and the media -- and that it was slowly eroding my spirit. I was falling out of touch with my own inner truth. These realizations were slow in coming, but the important thing is that they finally did arrive.

So several years ago I decided to make my year-round home on an 8,000-acre Spanish land grant that used to be an old cattle ranch just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It's a peaceful place, and sometimes deafeningly silent, with ancient energies that communicate to me in nameless ways. I live there with people who take care of me, and friends who come and stay, as well as nine dogs, three horses, ducks, platoons of birds, a pond, streams, deer, elk, bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and a host of spectacular plant life. But the most important being on the ranch is my little dog, Terry.

I "acquired" Terry in Malibu, California, where I lived for fifty years and still keep a place for meetings. She and I grew closer and closer during the few years it took me to distance myself from Malibu, with its easy access to the movie business, and to shift my life to the high desert wilderness. But as with all events that are life-changing, I woke up one morning and knew in my soul that the city part of my life was over. I was moving on to a new adventure that would lead me to realize that perhaps Terry had acquired me.

This book is about hearing a deeper song of being that has made me more optimistic about what the future of life on this planet could be. It is based on the truth as I see it, and as it has been shown to me through the eyes of a dog. More to the point, I'm having a new experience with love. I have deeply enjoyed the love of children, friends, lovers, a husband, work, creativity, fame, travel, success, money, politics, controversy, and even struggle. But the love that has come to me through Terry is an exultant confirmation that love exists in many realities and forms, all of them longing to be acknowledged through wisdom, humor, simplicity, silence, and the wordless language of the heart.

Here is an account of what Terry is teaching me, now that I am taking time to listen. Her thoughts as they come to me are not articulated in English, but in a purer, more direct form, in a language I call "humanimal." I know that I am touching deeper truths because of the knowledge Terry shares with me, so I've set down those insights into words here, in hopes that you may benefit from them as well.

This book, then, is a rumination, a conversation between Terry and me. Those of you who have an animal and live in close proximity to nature will understand immediately. If you haven't allowed an animal or nature to "acquire" you, the journey through yourself will take a little longer. Either way, this journey is the only one worth taking.

The answers we seek are ours to create.

Copyright © 2003 by Shirley MacLaine

Customer Reviews

Look Deeper -- It's Here
I've decided to write a review after perusing all the ones already written, and after reading the book myself. I want any future potential buyer to know what's what. Disregard all those comments that say Shirley MacLaine has lost it, is fuzzy-minded or too sentimental. While "Out On a Limb" remains Shirley's best book so far, this one is clear-headed as can be and deals with a different subject, a magical animal. What those other comments indicate is the readers' lack of a sense of humor.

You know some people are so darn literal, right? In truth, there are wonderful insights and wisdoms throughout the book. If you don't like animals, or if you think a dog is a dog is a dog, then you probably won't relate that well to the book, unless you recognize truth when you see it. This experience Shirley is having with a canine is rare. Her dog, Terry. is not your father's four-legged pal or your mother's cutsy, cuddly snookums. It's not about 90% of what most of us have experienced with a family dog or an adorable, sweet, or smart dog or cat that we loved and remember fondly. No, this is that rare 10% of animals that come into one's life that transcend the ordinary pooch or pussy. You have to experience it to understand it.

Shirley is NOT ga-ga in her dotage over a pet! She has been gifted with one of these transcendent animals and she is right: they do speak to their humans in many ways, and they love you like no man or woman has ever loved you (unless you're very, very lucky) before. I'm not talking about devotion. That's ordinary, expected. I'm talking about the real thing: unconditional love. We use that expression too much these days and most of us are lying about it. Frankly, we don't know what we're talking about. It's something we want to do, something we want to get, but we seldom come close. When we do, it's unforgettable whether it happens with man, woman or beast. It's a spiritual experience to be treasured and Shirley is one lucky lady.

This is a touching book
I found this book to be charming, witty, open, intelligent and loving. It is classic Maclaine, complete with her deep interest in all things metaphysical. There is also a warmth that radiates through her writing, you can feel that she truly loves and cares for all her animal companions and especially little Terry.
I have always respected and liked Miss Maclaine, but there is a new "grace" about her life right now. She says she has found joy and peace because of her relationship with this smart and funny little dog. Who I am to argue?
Some people may shrug it all off as "eccentric fluff" and I have a feeling that would probably tickle her, but I know the "animal lovers" will get it and the spiritual readers will find some interesting wisdom to ponder.
This book and its photos share "down to earth" glimpses of a unique woman. You might not agree with her spiritual standpoint, but you can't ignore the love she feels for her home,her life and for Terry.

Shirley Does it again!
With life changing books like Out on a Limb and The Camino, Shirley brings us her new book with the same great inspiration.

Out on a Leash takes us into the reality of animal companionship and love. I my self have seen the soul that "fur people" can bring forth in people's lives. Shirley talks about this very topic and introduces us to her little dog Terry-and Terry talks to us to!.

This is an all-around great book about Love, Light, Pets and Shirley MacLaine! A worthy read for animal lovers and Shirley Fans alike.