Just A Geek Review

At long last, I am finally going to talk about Just A Geek, which I finished earlier this month.

The book is a memoir, of sorts, written by Wil Wheaton. Yep, that would be the Wil Wheaton of Stand By Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame. In case you're wondering what happened to him, this book is a great place to start. Although it mostly covers his life and experiences earlier in this decade, he does go into what he did in the 90's (after TNG) as well.

Wheaton spends much of the book talking about getting out from under the shadow of his past life as a child actor and trying to reestablish a successful acting career, only to be thwarted in doing so. He discusses what it was like to go to audition after audition only to get very little acting work, all the while dealing with not only the stress it was putting on his family life, but his own self-doubt as well. Eventually, he realizes (through his blog) that writing is what he really wants to do with his life, and even more importantly, he discovers that being honest and open with himself and others is the key to finding happiness in his life. Don't worry if this sounds either too angsty or saccharine -- there's a lot of humor in this book as well, and it certainly had its laugh-out-loud moments for my wife and I (she read it too).

I thought that this book was very inspirational and I could identify with some of what Wil faced -- in particular, the self-doubt and the expectation one puts on oneself to appear successful to others. I also thought the parts where Wheaton learned what he really wanted to do with his life, as opposed to what he thought he wanted to do, were quite thought-provoking too. Many people face these issues in their lives, not just those in creative fields.

I don't have any major criticisms of this book. Probably the only one I have is that there seemed to be a heavy reliance on posts from his blog in some sections. I didn't mind them being included, since they were especially effective in showing the disparity between what he felt and thought in reality and the persona he presented to the world. However, at times it seemed repetitious, since they had been published elsewhere, and I would have liked to have seen more of his non-previously published writing. That said, it's a minor criticism, and overall I thought the book was excellent.

I definitely recommend the book to anyone who's a Star Trek fan, or a geek in general, but I think a lot of other peope would like it too.