Up Till Now, the Autobiography of William Shatner

First let me preface this by saying that I am not a Trekkie.  There is nothing wrong with Trekkies,      I married one and several of my family members and friends are Trekkies.  I however, am NOT a       Trekkie.  I did however LOVE this last Star Trek movie, but William Shatner was not in it, much to      his dismay.  But I digress.

You might be asking yourself, “Well if you aren’t a Trekkie, why did you want to read about William   Shatner?”  Two words:  BARGAIN PRICED! (Bill, as he calls himself in the book, would appreciate that.) I’m not a big library person.  Maybe that is not very “green” of me to say, but I love to own books.  I own them for a while, and then I donate them.  With the goal of 52 books in 52 weeks, “bargain priced” is right up my alley, and I do think William Shatner is hilarious and unique.  I believe anyone who has gotten as big as he has, must have something to learn from.  Truthfully, I thought it would be a funny,  lighthearted book and that it would be a good book to mix in with all of my spiritual/deep thinking books.  After reading it, I’m not sure this really fit that particular bill (pun intended).

I have to admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this book.  I had high expectations of this being a funny and entertaining read, and there were moments where I was completely and totally bored out of my mind.  There were moments where I actually rolled my eyes from the shameless plugs for Shatner’s websites where you can purchases his books, memorabilia, and whatever else he sells there.  There were PAGES dedicated to lists of Star Trek Memorabilia that you could buy (not necessarily from his website).  Then there were moments of sheer joy, laughter, entertainment, and heart-felt touching moments; these are what made the book readable to me.

There are several quotes in the book that I thought were profound.  But instead of listing those quotes, I think I will stick just talking about the 2 major things I learned/experienced while reading his story.

When I was a kid, my dad forced us to change the channel from whatever we were watching to Star Trek.  I hated it as a child.  I hated all things Star Trek, until of course, I married my hubby.  And it wasn’t until the latest Star Trek movie that I actually started to really like it.  I found it healing; it was a way for me connect to my father after his passing.  And reading this book, was just another way to connect and heal.  I appreciated that.

Then the biggest thing I learned from Bill is to accept the opportunities that come my way; you never know when those opportunities will be successful.  Don’t be afraid to take risks!  People may even laugh at you.  What you do may be a huge flop and have horrible reviews, but it is always worth it.  If you don’t take the chance, you will never know; and one day it will be successful!   He was constantly working on something.  If his career on TV or movies fizzled, he would head back to the stage (even if that meant he would live in a cab-over camper on his pick up truck).  He was always working and looking for the next thing to earn his keep.  If he wasn’t acting, he was writing books or making music CDs (the first one was horrible, so I read).  It didn’t make a difference.  If it made him money, he was doing it.  He never felt like he was a success until he won 2 Emmys from his work on The Practice and Boston Legal.  To me, that is inconceivable.  How can you be THAT big and not feel like a success?  He almost didn’t do The Practice and Boston Legal; he wanted to spend time with his wife and family.  But in the end, he did, and from what I can see in his book, it is exactly what made him feel like a success!  After decades of working in the industry, he finally felt like he did it.  He never gave up!

He had several struggles in his career, but he kept at it.  That alone is such an inspirational story!  Yet, there are so many other things in his story that touched my heart.

It may have been a hard/tiresome read at times, but in the end, what I gleaned from it was amazing!  I fell in love with him in Boston Legal, and this book just cemented it.  He is amazingly funny, and maybe a bit annoying. But I think that bit of annoying is what makes him so endearing.  You just have to read it to understand!

Thanks, Bill, for sharing your story with the world!