This month, I read the incredible 1995 memoir “I Am Spock” by the one-and-only Leonard Nimoy. Best known for playing Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek series, Nimoy had a long and varied career in television, movies, and live theatre, as both an actor and director. This memoir is actually somewhat of a sequel to Nimoy's first memoir, “I Am Not Spock,” which had been published twenty years earlier. And yes, he acknowledges the irony of these titles in the very first chapter!
This book is an absolute treasure trove for fans of Star Trek. Nimoy recounts numerous charming, hilarious, and often heartwarming anecdotes about Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and all the co-stars and guest stars that appeared on the Starship Enterprise throughout the show's lengthy run. However, the big-name cameos in this book aren't just limited to the Star Trek universe. Chapter 10 details Nimoy's experiences working with both Michael Eisner and Jeffery Katzenberg, two men who have become titans in the entertainment world, and he has some very interesting things to say about both of them.
Each chapter in “I Am Spock” contains fictionalized conversations between Leonard Nimoy and the character of Spock, which oscillate between enlightening & thought-provoking to quippy & humorous. This was my favorite aspect of the book, as it points out just how different Nimoy was from the character he was so well known for portraying, while also highlighting the traits and values they had in common.
This book is a must-read for any diehard Star Trek fan, but I would also recommend it for anyone hoping to brush up on celebrity/movie trivia. Did you know that Leonard Nimoy directed the movie “Three Men and a Baby”? I sure didn't.
I would rate this book a 9/10. It's 347 pages in length, but I wish it was longer! You get the feeling that there's more he could have said about certain projects or people, but there was just so much material to cover in his long career that certain chapters seem to be cut short for the sake of moving on to something else. But maybe that just means I need to read “I Am Not Spock” next to get a more complete picture. Adding it to the TBR!
-Artemis, Co-Owner of Epic Quest Books