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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
This book is like 80% Shatner and 20% Leonard... But I guess that shouldn't really surprise me. I do question Shatner's whole assertion they were bffs. Hmm...
Because William Shatner is William Shatner, this book is as much about him as it is about Leonard Nimoy. But, instead of being a Nimoy book about Shatner, it's more a book of Shatner's reflection next to Nimoy. Bill obviously has a great love and respect for Leonard and it comes across. He is straight-forward in most things as he talks about Leonard's life and their shared experiences.
Much of this was new to me, because for all my love of Star Trek, I really haven't followed the careers of the actors or obsessed about the details of their lives. So, I didn't know that Leonard's family were Jewish immigrants from Russia. I loved the family parts and Leonard's obvious respect for his upbringing and heritage and his trip to Russia as an adult, where he was able to return to the village his parents fled and meet family members.
I enjoyed the honesty. That Leonard was a recovering alcoholic and how that affected his life and relationships. The actor's perspective that Shatner brought to the book was effective as he shared Leonard's experiences and compared them to his or to acting in general. This was especially enlightening as he explained their perspective of filming the original series and thinking they were all going their separate ways when it ended. Then their sincere shock at the popularity of the series in syndication, the original fan conventions and the films. They all thought they would escape the Star Trek phenomenon at some point, and then their realization and acceptance that it was forever part of them. It was not only informative, but insightful.
I haven't read any Trek biographies, so I don't know how much of this information is already out there or how much is uniquely William Shatner's knowledge. I really don't care. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I have been a Trekkie all my life and being that I was born the same year the series premiered, I can say that with certainty. I remember watching it with my dad when I was little. And can I just say that I loved how Shatner used the original term of "Trekkie" rather than the term "Trekker", because that is the name I grew up knowing. And, seriously? Who the hell cares? Trekkie sounds geekish and Trekker sounds pretentious, but whatever. You want to refer to yourself as a Trekker? Fine. You want to refer to yourself as a Trekkie? Fine. People who love Star Trek, love Star Trek. The labels just don't matter.
Sorry, rant over.
Interspersed with the recollections and experiences were little nuggets of wisdom and insight. I underlined some parts and reflected on others in this book. But, I came away with a better understanding on the remarkable person that Leonard Nimoy was and the life he led and the lives he touched.
It's incredibly cheesy and cliche, but Kirk's eulogy in The Wrath of Khan really is perfect to describe Leonard Nimoy in so many ways, "Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most....human."
Leonard Nimoy left an incredible void, not only in the world of Star Trek, but life in general.
Much of this was new to me, because for all my love of Star Trek, I really haven't followed the careers of the actors or obsessed about the details of their lives. So, I didn't know that Leonard's family were Jewish immigrants from Russia. I loved the family parts and Leonard's obvious respect for his upbringing and heritage and his trip to Russia as an adult, where he was able to return to the village his parents fled and meet family members.
I enjoyed the honesty. That Leonard was a recovering alcoholic and how that affected his life and relationships. The actor's perspective that Shatner brought to the book was effective as he shared Leonard's experiences and compared them to his or to acting in general. This was especially enlightening as he explained their perspective of filming the original series and thinking they were all going their separate ways when it ended. Then their sincere shock at the popularity of the series in syndication, the original fan conventions and the films. They all thought they would escape the Star Trek phenomenon at some point, and then their realization and acceptance that it was forever part of them. It was not only informative, but insightful.
I haven't read any Trek biographies, so I don't know how much of this information is already out there or how much is uniquely William Shatner's knowledge. I really don't care. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I have been a Trekkie all my life and being that I was born the same year the series premiered, I can say that with certainty. I remember watching it with my dad when I was little. And can I just say that I loved how Shatner used the original term of "Trekkie" rather than the term "Trekker", because that is the name I grew up knowing. And, seriously? Who the hell cares? Trekkie sounds geekish and Trekker sounds pretentious, but whatever. You want to refer to yourself as a Trekker? Fine. You want to refer to yourself as a Trekkie? Fine. People who love Star Trek, love Star Trek. The labels just don't matter.
Sorry, rant over.
Interspersed with the recollections and experiences were little nuggets of wisdom and insight. I underlined some parts and reflected on others in this book. But, I came away with a better understanding on the remarkable person that Leonard Nimoy was and the life he led and the lives he touched.
It's incredibly cheesy and cliche, but Kirk's eulogy in The Wrath of Khan really is perfect to describe Leonard Nimoy in so many ways, "Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most....human."
Leonard Nimoy left an incredible void, not only in the world of Star Trek, but life in general.
I think Shatner believes what he's written and Nimoy won't get to have his say.
The good folks at St. Martin's Press sent me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
William Shatner has written a whole series of memoirs, most of them with a focus on his Star Trek experiences. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really enjoy most of them. I often felt overwhelmed by the voice of the Shatner Persona and I frequently felt an attempt by Shatner to distance himself from Star Trek and the fans that have given him the lifestyle he has. This book is different.
Here, I sense a maturity and honesty that was lacking in most of Shatner's other memoirs. There was some of this in Up Till Now but in Leonard, I have the sense that William Shatner is becoming more comfortable with himself and his role in Star Trek fandom and I'm tempted to say that some of this was a result of the example set by Leonard Nimoy. In the other books, I sensed an almost desperate need for the writer to be entertaining but here, he is actually just sharing from his heart.
The book begins with Shatner setting up the parallels between his own life and Leonard Nimoy's. They were of an age, both from Jewish families that escaped Europe and both became fascinated with acting in childhood. He goes on to discuss how they met and worked on Star Trek and how their friendship grew, not while the show was on the air, but in the 70s when they began to attend conventions together. It seems logical to me that they would grow closer through this experience. No one but those few people who were involved in the show could possibly comprehend the Star Trek phenomenon and even those people sometimes took decades to really understand and come to terms with it.
This book is a love letter to Leonard Nimoy. Shatner outlines Nimoy's career and describes the pleasure that Nimoy found in poetry and photography. He discusses Nimoy's family life, struggles with alcoholism and the results of smoking and he talks about what he learned from Nimoy. Shatner shares memories and quotations from other actors who worked with Nimoy (mostly Steve Guttenberg and John DeLancie) and also from Leonard's son, Adam Nimoy. Those who haven't read either of Leonard Nimoy's memoirs will discover new things about the man in this book.
It has been nearly a year since Leonard Nimoy left us and during that time I have been unable to watch any Star Trek with Nimoy in it. His death continues to have a huge impact on me but I think I've now had enough time that I can go back and enjoy the work he left in the world.
William Shatner's Leonard is a portrait of the artist who had millions of friends across the globe. It is the story of two men who lived through an unprecedented cultural phenomenon and who found friendship in the process. Like most people who encountered him, William Shatner is a better person for having had Leonard Nimoy in his life and this book is well worth reading. Trekkies will note a few small errors in Shatner's memory but they don't detract from the overall experience. I felt a sense of closure about the loss of Leonard Nimoy when I came to the end of this book and I think other Trekkies will appreciate the truths Shatner reveals about himself in this memoir.
William Shatner has written a whole series of memoirs, most of them with a focus on his Star Trek experiences. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really enjoy most of them. I often felt overwhelmed by the voice of the Shatner Persona and I frequently felt an attempt by Shatner to distance himself from Star Trek and the fans that have given him the lifestyle he has. This book is different.
Here, I sense a maturity and honesty that was lacking in most of Shatner's other memoirs. There was some of this in Up Till Now but in Leonard, I have the sense that William Shatner is becoming more comfortable with himself and his role in Star Trek fandom and I'm tempted to say that some of this was a result of the example set by Leonard Nimoy. In the other books, I sensed an almost desperate need for the writer to be entertaining but here, he is actually just sharing from his heart.
The book begins with Shatner setting up the parallels between his own life and Leonard Nimoy's. They were of an age, both from Jewish families that escaped Europe and both became fascinated with acting in childhood. He goes on to discuss how they met and worked on Star Trek and how their friendship grew, not while the show was on the air, but in the 70s when they began to attend conventions together. It seems logical to me that they would grow closer through this experience. No one but those few people who were involved in the show could possibly comprehend the Star Trek phenomenon and even those people sometimes took decades to really understand and come to terms with it.
This book is a love letter to Leonard Nimoy. Shatner outlines Nimoy's career and describes the pleasure that Nimoy found in poetry and photography. He discusses Nimoy's family life, struggles with alcoholism and the results of smoking and he talks about what he learned from Nimoy. Shatner shares memories and quotations from other actors who worked with Nimoy (mostly Steve Guttenberg and John DeLancie) and also from Leonard's son, Adam Nimoy. Those who haven't read either of Leonard Nimoy's memoirs will discover new things about the man in this book.
It has been nearly a year since Leonard Nimoy left us and during that time I have been unable to watch any Star Trek with Nimoy in it. His death continues to have a huge impact on me but I think I've now had enough time that I can go back and enjoy the work he left in the world.
William Shatner's Leonard is a portrait of the artist who had millions of friends across the globe. It is the story of two men who lived through an unprecedented cultural phenomenon and who found friendship in the process. Like most people who encountered him, William Shatner is a better person for having had Leonard Nimoy in his life and this book is well worth reading. Trekkies will note a few small errors in Shatner's memory but they don't detract from the overall experience. I felt a sense of closure about the loss of Leonard Nimoy when I came to the end of this book and I think other Trekkies will appreciate the truths Shatner reveals about himself in this memoir.
I give this biography 1 star because I just didn't feel the friendship. I was really not interested in W.S.'s voice and well I could read 1 sentence a page and not miss anything. Spock is a great character and Nimoy's development of the character is interesting, but man I was so not feeling this book.
Either Shatner is a way better author than I give him credit for or he has a great co-writer or...I don't know. But this was a well written almost dual biography of Nimoy and Shatner and showed an honestly surprising level of self awareness on Shatner's part. Perhaps the reason for that becomes clear near the end of the book. I haven't read much of anything behind the scenes on Star Trek or WS or LN's prior biographies, so all the info was new to me--not sure that will be the case for all readers.
I know Shatner is an egomaniac and his goal is to sell books but this book felt different. It was personal (or at least it came across as personal) and he went through some of his own failings, and possible reasons for them, even as he lauded Leonard Nimoy. Now, I may be in the minority but I thought he was too laudatory about Nimoy. EVERYONE has flaws and Shatner mostly glossed over them. (I understand why, given that this book was written so close to Nimoy's death but still...)
There were many good stories included in this book as well as insights into WHO Leonard Nimoy was as a person. He did talk about some of Nimoy's failings--his alcoholism, the effects of a lifetime of smoking and his own questions about why Nimoy didn't quit smoking much earlier. But also shared interesting insights into Nimoy's life and love for The Arts. He wasn't just an actor. He was a published poet and photographer. I wasn't aware of either of these.
I "read" this as an audiobook and listening to Shatner read the words made it all the more meaningful.
There were many good stories included in this book as well as insights into WHO Leonard Nimoy was as a person. He did talk about some of Nimoy's failings--his alcoholism, the effects of a lifetime of smoking and his own questions about why Nimoy didn't quit smoking much earlier. But also shared interesting insights into Nimoy's life and love for The Arts. He wasn't just an actor. He was a published poet and photographer. I wasn't aware of either of these.
I "read" this as an audiobook and listening to Shatner read the words made it all the more meaningful.
I went into this thinking this was just a biography about Leonard Nimoy written by William Shatner but what it really was was homage to Leonard Nimoy, to Star Trek, and to a 50 year friendship written by William Shatner. What I enjoyed about this book was Shatner's own inflections when talking about Nimoy. While talking about his life he also added in his own reflections which some might misconstrue as Shatner's ego getting in the way but I saw it as a way to enhance the memories that Shatner was talking about because let's face it, no matter how awesome we think he is, there is no way he was telepathic and knew exactly what Leonard Nimoy went through and what he was thinking. I enjoyed hearing not just about the tumultuous beginning to their relationship but just how similar their lives were leading up to Star Trek. They both had humble beginnings and followed almost the same path in life even though they were vastly different in personality. As someone who likes to say he's well versed in all things Trek, how did I never know that Leonard Nimoy had a singing career? Well, career might be overdoing it but I never knew that he had a love for singing which carried on well into his career. Even though I knew about his photography, I didn't know that his passion for photography started so early. Like I said, I liked William Shatner's own additional reflections that helped to show that he did care about Leonard and that through his fondness, we got to know Leonard Nimoy and who he was. And we all know that at least in our memories, he is living long and prospering.
This books is a remarkable story about friendship and loss. I loved how the author portrays his friend. It wasn't always wonderful. It was raw and gritty, but still so real. Nimoy was really a remarkable man.
Book Confessions of an ExBallerina
Book Confessions of an ExBallerina