To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu

Rating:
Summary: What an eye opener!
Review: (This Review is for the Audio Version of the Book). Mr. Takai does an excellent job of narrating his own autobiography injecting a personal note into the book. He is a clear speaker easy to understand even in the noisiest of (car) environments. The first tape covers George's life "before Star Trek" talking mostly about his life in the "camps" during WWII. I especially found this interesting as I knew little of what this was about. The second tape talks about George's Star Trek life. The people he met and how he felt about them. His take on William Shatner is especially interesting! A very enjoyable set of tapes. 3 hours.

Rating:
Summary: Good Listening
Review: (This Review is for the Audio Version of the Book). Mr. Takai does an excellent job of narrating his own autobiography injecting a personal note into the book. He is a clear speaker easy to understand even in the noisiest of (car) environments. The first tape covers George's life "before Star Trek" talking mostly about his life in the "camps" during WWII. I especially found this interesting as I knew little of what this was about. The second tape talks about George's Star Trek life. The people he met and how he felt about them. His take on William Shatner is especially interesting! A very enjoyable set of tapes. 3 hours.

Rating:
Summary: Half George Takei, half Star Trek
Review: As the title indicates, this is a George Takei autobiography, not a Star Trek book. About half of the book concerns Takei's childhood, early acting career, and dabbling in Los Angeles politics. The other half deals with Star Trek. Takei's account of the history of Star Trek is often little more than the history of Mr. Sulu. While he does provide some interesting information and anecdotes about the making of the show, fans will learn much more from William Shatner's autobiography. When Takei does write about the show, he spends far too many words relating his desire to get a larger, more important role for Mr. Sulu. The most interesting parts of the book, in my opinion, are the insights he shares into the personalities of Gene Roddenberry, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and the other members of the crew. In this respect, Takei's book is a nice complement to Shatner's autobiography and makes the last chapter of it -- in which Shatner writes about the hostility he encountered from some of his co-stars -- much easier to understand.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting history of George Takei
Review: As would be predictable in an autobiography, this book tells a lot about George Takei that was previously unknown. Or at least was previously unknown to some of us. For example, the fact that he was sent to the Japanese-American detainment camps when he was a young boy, one in Oklahoma and one in northern California. Or that he was involved in politics as he got older and became a good friend of Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley. Or that he was not extremely fond of William Shatner, to put it mildly. All of it was quite interesting and very revealing. Quite an entertaining read and also uplifting in several parts. If Hikaru Sulu is one of your favorite characters or at least one you are interested in and you want to gain some background information on the person behind the helm, read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent inside view of Star Trek
Review: George gives a wonderful insiders view of the evolution of his career and the Star Trek phenomenon, including personal insights into members of the cast. George also tells of his growing up as a Japanese-American during WW2 and gives a frightening inside view of one of America's dark secrets, that of the Japenese-American concentration camps. Even as a non-fiction book, I enjoyed it imensely

Rating:
Summary: An eloquent piece of work..
Review: George Takei is a wonderful role model for Asian Americans in this country! As an Asian American actor in Hollywood, George had to endure quite a bit compared to some of his contemporaries but handled his experiences with great class! George refused to let himself be pigeonholed into stereotypical roles later on in his career and fought for dignity for his character Sulu which I greatly admired..

His book is a fascinating glimpse into a life of a Japanese American who was incarcerated simply because of his race during World War II..funny enough..even though the US was at war with Germany and Italy at the same time you never saw German Americans or Italian Americans incarcerated....

Although George and his family experienced this undignified treatment, George writes quite eloquently about his experiences and how they drove him to be the best he could be in his chosen profession..

He realized he had a great responsibility to his character in such a highly visible and popular TV show and fought to make his character more visible and succeeded! He peppers his book with anecdotes about his experiences on the set of Star Trek and his relationships with his fellow castmates.

As a writer George is very talented and he also has a website where he keeps a monthly journal of what's going on in his life and career:

http://www.georgetakei.com/

George is truly an inspiration and a talented writer. I think you will really enjoy his book!

Rating:
Summary: Howard likes George, therefore I like George.
Review: Howard said it was good. George Takei plugged it on the air. I got interested. I read the book. The book was great. Nuff Said.

Rating:
Summary: Personal Favorite
Review: I couldn't even finish this book. Too angry for my tastes. Seems Mr. Takei blames William Shatner for everything wrong in his life. If you listen to this guy, he'd be Jesus Christ if it weren't for Bill Shatner. Get over it, Mr. Takei. Get a life!

Rating:
Summary: Too Angry For My Tastes
Review: I couldn't even finish this book. Too angry for my tastes. Seems Mr. Takei blames William Shatner for everything wrong in his life. If you listen to this guy, he'd be Jesus Christ if it weren't for Bill Shatner. Get over it, Mr. Takei. Get a life!

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Takei, not Mr. Sulu, Japanese-American
Review: I don't usually seek out Star Trek autobiographies, but I'm glad I found this one. I found it particularly useful in explaining the context of the title of the first Japenese-American novel, No-No Boy by John Okada. Takei's parents like the Okada character answered no and no to the loyalty oath that the U.S. government made its citizens like Okada's character and Takei's mother swear to. The Takeis, as a family, went to another camp, a camp for troublemakers. Okada's character, a single man, goes to jail. I have read other descriptions of camp life, but Takei's particularly useful and helpful. (In fact, I used it as part of a lesson plan on teaching No-No Boy to secondary students.) I also found Takei's political life interesting. So while I appreciate Mr. Sulu, I like Mr. Takei much more.