Still Just A Geek - A Review

Wil Wheaton has become everybody's favorite sci-fi buddy. Whether it's from his time on The Big Bang Theory, The Guild, or The Ready Room, he's the best person to geek out to your favorite thing, from Star Trek episodes to RPG gaming.

So when he released his new memoir, 'Still Just A Geek' (a continuation of his first go-round, 'Just A Geek'), I naturally had to pick it up.

This, fascinatingly, is a look at Wil's life spanning more than 20 to 30 years. It recycles his blog posts from the late 90's and early aughts, and as such, the current-day Wil has to frequently interject with clarifications and mea culpas, as the Wil Wheaton in his 20's and 30's was much more cavalier than the Wil Wheaton of today. (He's already in his 50's! Not much younger than me, in fact. *Sigh.*) The younger Wil was much more objectifying towards women, and prone to cringeworthy phrases such as, "that's so lame." As such, much of the book reads more like "The Wil Wheaton Apology Tour," than anything else. In fact, the apologies got so frequent that Will had to finally give up and say that he would simply be donating a monetary sum to disability charity for each bad phrase he used - sort of like a "swear jar" for cringe. (It ended up being quite a large charitable donation.) But some of the blog posts still hold up, and the annotations themselves, as much as they interrupt the flow, are quite amusing.

At times, this book is laugh out loud funny. Other times, it's so gut-wrenchingly emotional it leaves you in tears. But it's Wil Wheaton straight from the heart, and that's what we're all on board for.

Wil tells funny anecdotes about his time on Star Trek: The Next Generation, of course. That's the main thing, right? But he also tells many other amusing tales. He tells the odd story about what it was like to be in the movie 'Stand By Me,' working with Rob Reiner. He relates how he came to love writing more than acting. He explains why he left the cast of 'Next Generation,' and how he later came to regard that as a mistake. He laments over the many casting calls that rejected him, often with him as the #2 choice. And he relates his tumultuous family relationships.

He does relate how he became an occasional and recurring cast member of The Big Bang Theory, and how he came back to the set of Star Trek for 'Star Trek: Nemesis.' He even tells a little bit about how he got to host 'The Ready Room.' The only disappointing thing is that he doesn't relate how he got onto 'The Guild.' I was really curious about that, but that particular story is not found here.

When the blog posts are over and done, Wil goes on into a denouement so long it takes up the entire latter half of the book. But as fans, we're all down for that, aren't we? And these latter stories showcase his writing skill and latter-life experiences. He loves his life, he loves his fans, and that love comes shining through in this book.

I enthusiastically endorse this volume. If you can, get it on audiobook, not only because it's read by the author, but because you get a few bonus lines you won't find in the print edition.

Eric

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