Wil Wheaton

What is This Book About? This is an annotated memoir of Wil Wheaton’s original memoir, printed in 2004, titled Just a Geek. Wheaton takes the reader on a journey, starting in the early 2000s. He then describes his old career as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek The Next Generation, his acting career outside of Star Trek in the 90s and early 2000s, and his writing career that started with his now popular blog. The reader will get insights into what it’s like being a struggling actor in show more Hollywood, what it’s like to be a Comicon celebrity, and what it was like to be raised by exploitative parents. The original memoir, Just a Geek, originally used Wil Wheaton’s blog posts as a base for the memoir, giving footnotes when necessary. In this newer annotated version, Wil Wheaton comments heavily on some of his amateurish, ignorant, and just plain silly blog posts he wrote in the early 2000s.

My Review: So, I’ve seen Wil Wheaton perform on big hit shows like Star Trek The Next Generation and The Big Bang Theory, but he always seemed to be in the role of the the “supporting character.” Obviously, his memoir is going to cast Wil Wheaton as the lead, but I never realized how truly funny he could be, or just how riveting he is as a storyteller. To be clear, I “read” the audio version of this book, so I got to listen to Wil Wheaton perform a great deal of his life’s story. The majority of his memoir was centered around his life post-Trek. That is, when Wheaton was struggling to make ends meet as a “has-been” actor, not that he is a "has-been." Sure, his very first acting gig was with an Oscar-nominated movie, Stand by Me, and his TV role was with the second, and groundbreaking, iteration of Star Trek, but afterwards, his career seemed to hit a wall. He would audition for movies with a variety of production companies, both big and small, but it was a rare thing for the former child star to land any sort of acting role, despite having a wife and stepchildren to support.

I enjoyed the insider look at Hollywood and how non-celebrity actors have to fight tooth and nail for a chance to land a movie role. I also found a great deal of his personal life stories interesting; a majority of them were actually at the end, outside of the original Just a Geek volume. What I do wish the book touched on a bit more was his abusive relationship with Wheaton’s father. There was generally some mention throughout the book, but it was a little difficult to grasp the gravity of the situation until he started to talk about filming The Curse. Even then, The Curse mentioned his mother more than the father, who didn't seem to be around during filming. But maybe the situation is just too painful to write about or publicize, and I respect that.

By the way, to watch The Curse is to watch two children get abused in real life. The horror movie might be a work of fiction, but the Wheaton children were literally tortured physically and psychologically for the production.

Despite some of the horrifying revelations depicted late in this memoir, the book was, in general, a feast of hilarity and emotions, wrapped around the older footnotes of a mature, albeit witty Wil Wheaton. I definitely recommend reading this book if you are a fan of Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, gaming, computers, acting careers, or really anything geeky. This book is for you!

Three Words that Describe this Book: hilarious, heart warming, fascinating

Give This A Try if You Like… You’re Never Weird on the Internet, The Big Bang Theory (tv series), Star Trek The Next Generation

Rating: 5/5 show less

I don't enjoy memoirs generally, so why the hell so I keep picking them up?

Well, this is an interesting concept, annotating one's published memoir. Brave enough to tell the world embarrassing incidents from your life, but I am particularly impressed by the courage it takes to stand up in front of the world and say you were wrong. Or sexist, or whatever. Because if we're good people we are trying to learn and improve and at least make different errors.

But to point out this thing you wrote show more 20 years ago that makes you cringe now, to acknowledge the cringing you experience, damn, that'shardcore. Where I, to take an example at random, read my former writing on anything other than books and then shred it, burn the shreds, and wash my eyes with bleach at the horror of it all, Wheaton instead offers complete apologies to the world at large. Not those fake "I'm sorry if you were offended" apologies that refuse to acknowledge the insult, let alone offer any sort of recompense or improvement plan; these are full-on
and extensive examinations of fault and harm and humble plans. Good on you, Wheaton! You come across as a truly decent person.

I still don't like memoirs, though.

Library copy show less

Wil Weaton provides a strong glimpse into what, to me, is the awful world of professional acting: the insecurity, the indignity, the frustration. He also walks us through the complicated relationship he has had with Star Trek and his Wesley Crusher character. He also connects with his readers by revealing that he is exactly like them. He is a geek who loves gaming, Internet culture, SF novels, etc. Just one thing, Wil: find an adjective other than "cool" to describe things you like. It was show more definitely the most overused word in the whole of this book. show less

All I can say is that it was an absolute privilege to read this book; to be given a glimpse inside Wil's head. This is an annotated and expanded edition of his original book (*Just a Geek*), and it is so refreshing to see someone, celebrity or otherwise, take ownership of the horrible things they said or wrote, to apologize for them, and to strive to be better. Finally, I believe this book is a triumph in the goal to destigmatize mental illness (and he says it *is* an illness, because show more illnesses are not our fault) and promote ways to lead your best possible life, despite battling these inner demons every day. (He also adds trigger warnings where appropriate.) He doesn't sugar coat it. It's real and it hurts and parts of it were tough to read because I wanted to reach through the pages and tell him it was going to be okay. But it was *honest* and *real*.

Despite not knowing him personally, having read this book, I am so proud of the man he's become. He's been through so much - he *continues* to battle his brain every day - and yet he says he's happy and living the life he wants. I really hope that whoever ends up reading this finds it as inspiring as I did. show less