The Lemming Condition

Written by Alan Arkin

Narrated by Alan Arkin

Bubber, a lemming, and his family are getting ready. It is the morning of the great march west and the leap into the sea. Bubber is excited— until his friend Crow starts asking questions. Bubber struggles with the decision to participate in what appears to be an insane death walk, only to be told constantly by family and friends that this is just the way things are.

In this allegory about conformity, Bubber is faced with following his entire race to self-induced extinction. Will he give in to fear and propaganda? Will Bubber follow tradition or think independently and make his own reasoned decision before the day is over? A superb lesson on conformity, critical thinking, and personal accountability, this young-adult novel is read by the story' s author, Oscar-winning actor and author Alan Arkin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 1, 1989
• ISBN: 9781614675730

Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin has starred on Broadway, TV, over sixty films, and has won almost every acting award in North America. In this, his ninth published book, with his characteristic wry humor, he digs into his long time search for meaning past the seductive glamour of show business. By the time he was in his early thirties, his career was in full bloom and he had achieved everything he’d ever thought he wanted, only to find that it was not what he had hoped for. Something was missing, himself. In Out of My Mind, Arkin speaks openly about the existential crisis which brought him from analysis to the serious study of Eastern Philosophy and several teachers who helped him revise his views on almost everything. In this sort-of-memoir, the eighty-six year-old actor tells of the adventures, which, as a direct result of decades of meditation, shook his conception of reality and brought him to a new, exciting, and expanded view of what is out there, and the endless, mind-boggling adventure into what is possible–not just for himself but for all the rest of us.

Reviews for The Lemming Condition

[Cristina A · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story worth unpacking! I read it for book club with a couple gal pals!