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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I bawled while reading the final chapter!
I'd say if you've read Nimoy's or Shatner's autobiographies you already know 95% of what's in this book. Certain stories of Leonard's are given with Bill's perspective. A good read, though, for any fan of the two lifelong friends.
I'd say if you've read Nimoy's or Shatner's autobiographies you already know 95% of what's in this book. Certain stories of Leonard's are given with Bill's perspective. A good read, though, for any fan of the two lifelong friends.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I really enjoyed this book. it compliments the Leonard Nimoy documentary well. I started this on audiobook and I really enjoyed listening to Shatner read.
As I've grown up watching the re-runs of the original Star Trek series with William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy as Spock & Kirk every evening on BBC2.
Since then I become a trekkie fan and pretty much watched all the versions of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. As well as all of the Star Trek Movies. As some of the people on Good Reads have mentioned if you’re a trekkie and you’ve loved Nimoy/Spock you’re not going to look at the ratings.
This book is an easy read looking at the personal and professional life of Leonard Nimoy and his on and off screen relation with William Shatner. As Shatner mentions both of them being born a week apart in March 1931 to Jewish Parents that immigrated to USA, the struggle to looking for the next job and there personal issues. As majority of the Star Trek cast moved on to other jobs Nimoy & Shatner were scared that they'll be type casted as Spock & Kirk and find it hard to find work.
Shatner also mentions how they’ve had broken marriages, trouble with alcoholism and getting help as well as Nimoy’s relationship with his son Adam. Leonard Nimoy as took up writing poetry and a couple of books published, photography and writing and directing two Star Trek Movies and the classic Three Men & a Baby – Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson.
It was a nice to see him 2013 Star Trek Movie and passing the mantel over to Zachary Qunito to his death in 2015 but last of all in the words of the late Vulcan LLAP - Live Long and Prosper.
Since then I become a trekkie fan and pretty much watched all the versions of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. As well as all of the Star Trek Movies. As some of the people on Good Reads have mentioned if you’re a trekkie and you’ve loved Nimoy/Spock you’re not going to look at the ratings.
This book is an easy read looking at the personal and professional life of Leonard Nimoy and his on and off screen relation with William Shatner. As Shatner mentions both of them being born a week apart in March 1931 to Jewish Parents that immigrated to USA, the struggle to looking for the next job and there personal issues. As majority of the Star Trek cast moved on to other jobs Nimoy & Shatner were scared that they'll be type casted as Spock & Kirk and find it hard to find work.
Shatner also mentions how they’ve had broken marriages, trouble with alcoholism and getting help as well as Nimoy’s relationship with his son Adam. Leonard Nimoy as took up writing poetry and a couple of books published, photography and writing and directing two Star Trek Movies and the classic Three Men & a Baby – Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson.
It was a nice to see him 2013 Star Trek Movie and passing the mantel over to Zachary Qunito to his death in 2015 but last of all in the words of the late Vulcan LLAP - Live Long and Prosper.
2 Stars
This is a nonfiction biography/memoir written by Willaim Shatner to celebrate the life and acting career of Leonard Nimoy.
Okay, this review is actually going to be pretty short. I’m pretty indifferent about this book. Same old Shatner, different book.
I found this book to have been cranked out far too quickly. For how much money Shatner has, you’d think he’d be able to hire a decent ghost-writer (we all know he didn’t write this) and editor. But, I found many mundane errors that should have been avoided. Plus, this book came out super fast after Nimoy’s sad death. I don’t want to say Shatner capitalized off of Nimoy’s death, but it sure seems like Shatner capitalized off Nimoy’s death.
I found many of the stories and anecdotes in here to be redundant and already milked for what they were worth. Not a whole lot of new information, even though Shatner claims he’s spilled secrets that have never been talked about before. Maybe these secrets came later on in the book when I started to heartily skim the text? There was no reason this book needed to be as long as it was.
I also couldn’t tell exactly what this book was. Was it an apology to Leonard? Was it an apology to Star Trek fans for shoving the series under the rug for so long and not giving it the credit it deserved for Shatner’s own career? Was it a memoir of Shatner’s own life? Was it an autobiography of Nimoy’s life?
I haven’t read any of Nimoy’s memoirs or writings in long-text form, but Shatner is trying to retell what has already been told. He talks of Nimoy’s alcoholism and addiction to smoking as if this is a new break through, but it’s as if Shatner read Nimoy’s own writing and then cut and pasted it to make his own book.
For this deep friendship the two shared, it did not come across on the page. Shatner does not talk warmly about Nimoy as dear friends tend to talk about each other. All the stories seemed cold and distant. This book seemed like more of an excuse to talk about himself more than anything.
These are all tedious and mediocre complaints, though. My biggest complaint is that Shatner takes no responsibility toward Nimoy’s decision to stop talking to his Star Trek costar before his death. Shatner says he has no idea what happened and, of course, claims none of the blame. If they were such close friends, this type of fallout wouldn’t have happened with Nimoy knowing he didn’t have much time left.
However, having said that, the last chapter of this book is quite beautiful and seems like a sincere apology. I’m not sure if it is, and I’m not sure how much of it is actually Shatner talking, but it was touching to read, none the less. The final pages made me ache for the talented man that brought an alien character we’ve all grown to love alive.
Nimoy will forever be remembered and missed.
Overall, do I recommend this book? Nah, you could probably skip it. If I had had high hopes for this, I would have been disappointed, but I already knew what kind of man Shatner is, so I saved myself from that.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
This is a nonfiction biography/memoir written by Willaim Shatner to celebrate the life and acting career of Leonard Nimoy.
Okay, this review is actually going to be pretty short. I’m pretty indifferent about this book. Same old Shatner, different book.
I found this book to have been cranked out far too quickly. For how much money Shatner has, you’d think he’d be able to hire a decent ghost-writer (we all know he didn’t write this) and editor. But, I found many mundane errors that should have been avoided. Plus, this book came out super fast after Nimoy’s sad death. I don’t want to say Shatner capitalized off of Nimoy’s death, but it sure seems like Shatner capitalized off Nimoy’s death.
I found many of the stories and anecdotes in here to be redundant and already milked for what they were worth. Not a whole lot of new information, even though Shatner claims he’s spilled secrets that have never been talked about before. Maybe these secrets came later on in the book when I started to heartily skim the text? There was no reason this book needed to be as long as it was.
I also couldn’t tell exactly what this book was. Was it an apology to Leonard? Was it an apology to Star Trek fans for shoving the series under the rug for so long and not giving it the credit it deserved for Shatner’s own career? Was it a memoir of Shatner’s own life? Was it an autobiography of Nimoy’s life?
I haven’t read any of Nimoy’s memoirs or writings in long-text form, but Shatner is trying to retell what has already been told. He talks of Nimoy’s alcoholism and addiction to smoking as if this is a new break through, but it’s as if Shatner read Nimoy’s own writing and then cut and pasted it to make his own book.
For this deep friendship the two shared, it did not come across on the page. Shatner does not talk warmly about Nimoy as dear friends tend to talk about each other. All the stories seemed cold and distant. This book seemed like more of an excuse to talk about himself more than anything.
These are all tedious and mediocre complaints, though. My biggest complaint is that Shatner takes no responsibility toward Nimoy’s decision to stop talking to his Star Trek costar before his death. Shatner says he has no idea what happened and, of course, claims none of the blame. If they were such close friends, this type of fallout wouldn’t have happened with Nimoy knowing he didn’t have much time left.
However, having said that, the last chapter of this book is quite beautiful and seems like a sincere apology. I’m not sure if it is, and I’m not sure how much of it is actually Shatner talking, but it was touching to read, none the less. The final pages made me ache for the talented man that brought an alien character we’ve all grown to love alive.
Nimoy will forever be remembered and missed.
Overall, do I recommend this book? Nah, you could probably skip it. If I had had high hopes for this, I would have been disappointed, but I already knew what kind of man Shatner is, so I saved myself from that.
Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature.
For Star Trek fans
This is a good book for Star Trek fans. However, if you don't like William Shatner, you'll have trouble with reading this. There is at times more Shatner in this than Nimoy.
The co-author writes in Shatner's voice and style so the book is easy to read and chatty.
This is a good book for Star Trek fans. However, if you don't like William Shatner, you'll have trouble with reading this. There is at times more Shatner in this than Nimoy.
The co-author writes in Shatner's voice and style so the book is easy to read and chatty.
Enjoyable read! The first half was superb, and I enjoyed reading about the Star Trek set hijinks. Although the second half fell a little flat as it was more biographical/wikipedia type of info.
This is a very heartwarming, interesting look at the behind-the-scenes life of Leonard Nimoy. It was enjoyable that the author Bill Shatner read the audio version. I highly recommend this insightful biography to Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike!
Somehow William Shatner took a biography about Leonard Nemoy and talked primarily about himself.