William Shatner Books

(...)While Shatner seemed to be basking in this attempt at immortality via a biography that actually told you very little about the man himself - only alluding to his supposed sexual prowess and being an excellent example on how some fawn over him - Marshak and Culbreath did a fine job of totally failing to invent a sexual legend with their overly shallow attempt at Californian sexual pseudo-psychobabble.

The book is so awful, it is worthy of cult status I guess, and a must for all those collectors of pulp trash and literary oddities. It nearly killed my appreciation for the actor back in 1979, but Shatner's own descent in to shallowness finally euthinazed any respect I had for his work, and for the man himself back in the late '80's. Apart from a couple of Star Trek novels back in the late seventies, we have been blessed with the beaming up and dissappearance of Marshak and Culbreath since then. But yet, if you do come across a tattered copy going for 50c in a garage sale somewhere, buy it. It'll be worth the giggle at least.

....I wonder if Marcy Lafferty still has her copy.....?

...but, that doesn't mean that the book doesn't have it's flaws.

First, the book isn't really an autobiography since Shatner did little, if any, actual writing. The book is mostly filled with quotes of him taken from either direct interviews or from his own personal tapings. To that end, it's really just transcripts of him talking. That isn't necessarily a bad thing--he has some very insightful things to say, but for those looking for a "First I was born, then I did this, and then I did this..." kind of thing, then you won't find it here.

Second, the authors seem to take an inordinantly long time to actually say anything. Then, when they do, it's really just a rehashed version of something they already said. The portions of the book in which Shatner actually speak are jewels that define the legend of Shatner. Unfortunately, the authors didn't include nearly enough from the man himself. Was this a book about Shatner, or about how much the authors actually like to write?

Lastly, the reviewers who write about him spouting off about his sexual prowess, among other things, must have read another book. I almost DIDN'T buy the book because of the bad reviews, but I'm glad I didn't listen to those folks. I didn't find that Shatner was anything like the chauvanist others have implied. Shatner comes across as eloquent, charming, and funny.

So, buy this book and make up your own mind, and the included pictures are a real treat! Even some of his own family members haven't seen some of the pictures included in this book!

There is no scale for this book, which is not written by William Shatner. It is written by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, who, judging from this writing, are the worst hacks ever to invade the Star Trek quadrant.

It might as _well_ be written by Bill--it's so over-the-top that Bill would not shrug his shoulders in denial at having been responsible for it.

This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read, and I have read possibly close to a million by now.

Bill, in his "Star Trek Memories," does not shy away from the italics, but these women employ them almost every paragraph, almost in an italics-as-punctuation style.

Possibly the worst thing about the book is that every time Star Trek is mentioned, it's spelled in all caps, as in STAR TREK.Considering that it's mentioned about 12 times per page, STAR TREK gets a little tiresome, to say the least

Here's some sample atrocious writing:

"Some part of that victory has been won by the kind of artist and the kind of man who is willing to put himself on the line for the kind of art he believes in and the kinds of things he wants to say."

Whaaaa????

"Shatner has done that, and it has cost him. And he has also done the hard-boiled, feed-the-family choices."

Is this tripe for real? One wonders whether Shatner was sharing his ample fruits in the same large bed with these authors at the time the book was written.

Don't believe the reports that this book is "hard to find"... or rather, DO believe them. It's hard to find because most conscientious buyers of this book will have destroyed their copy a long time ago and seen to it that its remains were disposed of as "toxic waste."

Buy this book at your own risk of losing many, many precious brain cells.