Just a Geek
Unflinchingly honest tales of the search for life, love and fulfillment beyond the Starship Enterprise
By Wil Wheaton
June 2004
Pages: 296
ISBN 10: 0-596-00768-X |
ISBN 13: 9780596007683
(4) (Average of 2 Customer Reviews)
Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me", and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.
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Book details
First Edition: June 2004
ISBN: 0-596-00768-X
Pages: 296
Average Customer Reviews: (4) (Based on 2 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Review of "Just A Geek", July 11 2004
As a child and as a teenager Wil Wheaton
had a successful acting career.
Many of us were aware of him
as Ensign Wesley Crusher
of the Starship Enterprise.
But he abandoned his role as Wesley Crusher
for reasons explained in the book.
He remained stuck for many years,
no longer a successful actor,
but, at some level, wishing
he could return to his former glory.
In "Just A Geek",
Wil Wheaton does a very good job
of relating his evolution
from a self-absorbed childhood actor
into a much more aware and happier human being and into a successful writer.
The evolution is neither smooth nor easy.
Two big pluses in the book
are the author's irreverent sense of humor
and the glimpses behind the scenes
of StarTrek: The Next Generation.
If you want a bit more detail,
you may wish to checkout
my somehat longer review.
More than *just* a geek, July 11 2004
Here's the gimmick: Wil isn't *just* a geek. He's a geek who's come to nerdvana -- the Paramount lot where they dropped the first Trekbomb and forever changed the world -- to tell us that it's not all it's cracked up to be. He's also a geek who can *write*. Finally, he's a geek who's unafraid to sit at the keyboard and open a vein: there's a lot of scorching honesty mixed in with these convulsively funny memoirs.
Media reviews
"It is an unabashedly honest (and often hilarious) account of one man’s journey from struggling and extremely insecure actor to confident and content writer...I devoured this book in about a day and enjoyed every minute of it. Wheaton has lots of very good and important things to say about acting, blogging, and celebrity, but there is also plenty of humor to keep things rolling. Definitely recommended."
-- Kate Kintail, Utter Randomonium
"Wil's story is a broad snapshot of a life that has been terrifically interesting to this point in time. His journey to self-realization as he describes it is both very entertaining and sometimes embarrassingly honest...I want this guy to win. Very good read. Highly recommended."
--Howard Carson, Kickstartnews.com, January 2005
"This is a book of self discovery. Of learning from what has happened in the past and using it as a strength to move on in directions that may never have been explored if the obvious path had been followed. Of becoming aware that what you sought was always there waiting for you."
--Your Mac Life, December 2004
"It's time to forgive Wil Wheaton. He is sorry that you hated Wesley. He is deeply puzzled by your ongoing antipathy. In an effort to seek your understanding, he has written you a book as a peace offering: Just a Geek...Just a Geek is not a celebrity memoir. It is more a collection of humorous commentaries with one essential theme: How does a grown-up geek with two stepkids, a wife and few job prospects make a go of it?"
--Chelsea Cain, The Oregonian, December 2004
"It's not often I read books which both reverse and elevate my opinion of the author...
To summarize the book by saying it publicly chronicles his personal struggles after leaving [Star Trek] TNG is simultaneously accurate and whole inadequate...Hats off to you, Wil. You’re a damn fine storyteller, writer, comic and one of the more decent folks I've had the pleasure of knowing. And best of all, you're just a geek…like me.
Rating: 5 out of 5"
--Evo Terra, Dragonpage.com, November 2004
http://www.dragonpage.com/archives/2004_11_04.html
"[Wil Wheaton] tells stories with humor, insight, and hard-won maturity. Fans of his work will naturally pick up Just a Geek, but the book works well even for those who've never heard of him as an autobiography of a guy who grew up at the intersection of the great Hollywood machine and the vast geek culture of the Net. That alone makes it worth reading, never mind Wheaton's skill an author."
--NetSurfer Digest, August 2004
"Let's get this out of the way right now: if you come to this book looking for Star Trek gossip and wry recollections of life among the Klingons, you're going to be disappointed. Wil Wheaton's autobiographic melange of weblog and memoir is something far, far more important...Wheaton has an amazing knack for writing wistful recollections of his youth full of humour and pathos...Wheaton could easily become the Garrison Keillor of Generation X....Geeks everywhere should rejoice: In Wil Wheaton they have found their poet."
--Dr. Neale Monks, Applelust.com, September 2004
http://www.applelust.com/reviews/books/archives/040903_justageek.shtml
"A very rewarding, entertaining and insightful read."
--Jim Carruthers, Blogcritics.org, August 2004
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/10/153255.php
"I'm not ashamed to say that I got a little teary-eyed as I finished the book. In fact, I was carried through a whole gamut of emotions...But enough about me raving about this book. I highly urge all of you to pick it up from your local bookstore or favorite online retailer." Rating: 10/10
--Tricia Sebastian, Sequential Tart, June 2004
http://www.sequentialtart.com/reports.php?ID=3262&issue=2004-06-01
