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cheryl6of8's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting look at Roddenberry's life. I found his earlier career highlights fascinating and the discussion of his work on Star Trek interesting. I was amazed to discover that a confirmed feminist could be such a pig in his interactions with women. And I learned that Captain Kirk's libido was autobiographical, if a bit underplayed, for Roddenberry and Majel Barrett's brashness makes Lwaxana Troi look like a very shy nun. The book was long and I think could have done with fewer exceprts from Roddenberry's correspondence, but it held my interest well enough to let me get through 600+ pages, even if it took a while.
zamyatins_fears's review against another edition
3.0
While I thought that overall, this book was informative, I do think that it was a lot longer than it needed to be. The author of Gene's biography was hand picked by Gene, because he had enjoyed an interview he'd had with David. While David Alexander was no doubt a good journalist, I think that perhaps biographies are a little out of his element. He focused almost entirely on business letters for the first half of the book. While those can sometimes be interesting, many of these were trivial and showed the reader little of Roddenberry's life and attitudes. Some of the letters did have information within them that mattered, or gave us a look into Roddenberry's thoughts, but not enough to justify all of the letters. I think that this book could have been half the length and still given the reader as much information. I also think that the author could have made an effort to get more personal stories during Roddenberry's early career to break up business letter after business letter.
That said, the book did become very interesting a few hundred pages in. The author did get more personal stories about Roddenberry as he was getting into Gene's success in Star Trek, though in some ways I feel he glossed over Star Trek: The Next Generation a little bit, more interested at this time in Gene's eminent death. Nonetheless, the last half of the book was hard to put down and at the end of the book I did feel that I had really gotten to know Gene. I'd say this biography is worth a read once.
That said, the book did become very interesting a few hundred pages in. The author did get more personal stories about Roddenberry as he was getting into Gene's success in Star Trek, though in some ways I feel he glossed over Star Trek: The Next Generation a little bit, more interested at this time in Gene's eminent death. Nonetheless, the last half of the book was hard to put down and at the end of the book I did feel that I had really gotten to know Gene. I'd say this biography is worth a read once.
esperata's review
5.0
This has to be the definitive biography of Gene Roddenberry. Written by someone who knew him well, it is nonetheless fully researched and detailed. Extracts from letters and articles are included throughout. This does not make it dry reading though. His flaws are not glossed over but are examined as every other aspect of his incredible life.
This book does not seek to focus on simply 'the creator of Star Trek' because, while that was a huge part of his life, it was not all by any means. I felt the author covered it with the same diligence as the rest of his life, neither going over ground covered in other works on the subject nor skipping through without care.
The epilogue was a beautiful statement to the man and his dream, leaving the reader with a sense of hope for humanity.
This book does not seek to focus on simply 'the creator of Star Trek' because, while that was a huge part of his life, it was not all by any means. I felt the author covered it with the same diligence as the rest of his life, neither going over ground covered in other works on the subject nor skipping through without care.
The epilogue was a beautiful statement to the man and his dream, leaving the reader with a sense of hope for humanity.
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