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Location: Vero Beach, Florida, United States

My name is Pat and I live in Florida. My skin will never be smooth again and my hair will never see color. I enjoy collecting autographs and playing in Paint Shop Pro.,along with reading and writing. Sometimes, I enjoy myself by doing volunteer "work" helping celebrities at autograph shows. I love animals and at one time I did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

To The Stars

To the Stars by George Takei

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Star Trek (June 25, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0671890093

From Publishers Weekly
Asian-American actor Takei attributes his success to his role as Mr. Sulu on the Star Trek TV series and in six full-length motion pictures (1966-1991). Starting with his Japanese-American family's internment in a WWII high-security camp in northern California, this lively memoir reveals the author's upbeat but pragmatic nature. The boy's early fascination with the theater, abetted by supportive parents and a B.A. and M.A. in theater from UCLA, led to his discovery when he was 27 by Gene Roddenberry, creator/producer of Star Trek. While Takei's film credits include Ice Palace, Green Berets and [Return from the River Kwai], most of the book, of major interest to Star Trek fans, deals with behind-the-scenes accounts of the series' filming and production.

A friend of mine, who doesn't normally suggests books for me to read, had told me that although she doesn't read a lot of autobiographies, that she found George Takei's book really good.

When I was able to find a used hardback copy for fairly cheap I sent for it, figuring "one day I'll read it", but I was in no hurry.

Then came Nicholas Meyers book "A View from the Bridge" and I devoured the book so fast I felt I wanted more.. and so I decided to read George's book.

Wow.

That's it.. just wow.

I thought it would be like other autobiographies with emphases on his Star Trek years.  And I guess that's exactly what it was.. but..

Wow.

This book was very surprising to me.  No, George did not surprise me by "coming out" in this book (not that it would have been a surprise to me anyway) George was silent on his love life, but he certainly didn't gloss over anything he did talk about.

I am ashamed to say I never thought real hard on the before lives of the Star Trek People, and George.. well George and his family were Japanese.   George was but a few years old when the war broke out and all the Japanese people living in America were sent to internment camps, where George and his family lived for a number of years.

I never realized that.  So it follows that I never really looked at things through George's eyes. 

At some point George went from a kid growing up in an internment camp, to getting deeply involved in politics.  I think I can safely say that George never forgot his early years and how he and his family were treated.. and I don't blame him in the least.

But George and his family continually pushed forward, and eventually George got to live his dream of becoming an actor.

I did love his recollections of becoming Sulu and working with the cast from Star Trek.  He doesn't go so deep into the everyday thing that you ever feel George was obsessed to write this book and "tell all".. but instead he really did have a story to tell.

This book was very interesting.  I don't know if George had a ghost writer helping him or not but it was beautifully written, and kept your attention at all times.   Simply said, I remember thinking many times as I was reading the book, "gosh, this book is well written"... and it is!

Although I have held an interest in all the people who did Star Trek, I can't say that something I ever wanted to do was to read all their autobiographies and memories of Star Trek.. I don't know why, maybe because I felt each one would be repetitious when it came to the memories of working on Star Trek.. but even there I was wrong.

I can say I appreciate George Takei much more having read this book, and for anyone who even thinks they might want to read it.. do it, you won't be disappointed.

And so, I leave you with a quote from George's book that I found profound ...

quote: pg 187..  ( George says:)

I gained friends and insights that led me to a deeper understanding of this ever-changing,  ever-developing new breed of humans called Americans.  As a people, we may have varied histories tracing back to the Mayflower or to slave ships, to split-rail corrals or to barbed wire fences.  But, whatever our histories, however tortured and adversarial they may have been, our destinies are bound inextricably together.  We have a common future.  Our challenge lies not in carrying the weight of our pasts like anchors, but in working in concert to build the common tomorrow.

7 Comments:

Blogger Cath said...

My impression of him, from documentaries and so forth, is what a nice guy he is. It sounds like the book reflects that. That's a very good quote, sounds like he's not only nice but deeply thoughtful. Glad you enjoyed the book, Pat.

10:32 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

cath: george was always nice to all the people at conventions even inviting them to jog with him in the morning..and many did! He has the greatest laugh! if you never have heard it.. his laugh will MAKE you laugh! lol.. anyway..this was a really good book.. i was happily surprised.

11:38 AM  
Blogger chrisa511 said...

Wow, this really does sound like a great book Pat! I didn't realize that he went through all that. Sounds like a fantastic story to read. I never thought I'd have any interest in Star Trek autobiographies, but I have to say you're making me want to read them all now!!

10:07 PM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Chris: I can't say that I was so interested in George as to want to read his bio. but a friend told me it was the best of all the bio's out of the trek folk..so on a whim (and a cheap used copy) I got it..and it was much more interesting than most bio's in the parts of his youth.

5:38 AM  
Blogger Pamela said...

he's forever SULU. Can't help but see him in his star trek suit...

9:40 AM  
Blogger OldLady Of The Hills said...

This sounds like a really wondrful book...You know I think a lot of peopl;e today don't realize that Ameruca had these so called "Internment" camps--nicer word than 'concentration camps', I guess...So that part of his book would interest me greatly. I have a friend who's father was in Manzinar--and that's quite a story...!

1:05 PM  
Anonymous Ken S said...

Thanks again for another great review of Trek book. Your reviews have now inspired me to got out and read this book and The View from the Bridge. I appreciate the effort you put into your reviews. In both cases, you've compelled me to want to go read the book.

Would it interest you to know that George Takei resumed his role of Sulu in a recent Star Trek fan production? It's true! It's an amazing episode called "World Enough and Time" and it stars George Takei as Sulu on board the Excelsior, but also going back in time to what would've been the fourth season of the original Star Trek Series. Even though it's fan produced, this is one of my favourite episodes of Star Trek. You can find the episode here, just click on Takei's pic: www.startreknewvoyages.com/downloads.html If you've never seen Star Trek: Phase II, prepare to be amazed it's as good, in fact better, than the original televised show.

12:45 PM  

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