The Biography of Captain Kirk (by David A. Goodman)
Every fan of Captain Kirk, stop what you are doing right now and start reading his autobiography. It is such a wonderful read, giving insight into Kirk's thoughts and feelings and also struggles. It shows us events we know about from his perspective, and also some events we didn't yet know. Every decision, every death he had to watch, they all shaped him to become the great man he would be. His first command and his first meeting of all the people who later would serve on the "Enterprise". I loved especially the first meeting between Spock and McCoy.
And all those familiar names - Tom Leighton, Ben Finney and his daughter Jamie, Sean Finnegan, Ruth, Gary Mitchell, Captain Garrowick, Carol Marcus, both Deckers.... They all are no longer just characteres in a TV show, they are now real people to me. The stories get connected with each other, and sometimes we meet them again much later. We follow Kirk from his beginnings as he is serving on the "Republic", "Farragut" and "Hotspur", making his way up before becoming the captain of the "Enterprise".
A foreword by McCoy and an afterword by Spock make this book round and wonderful and lovely. You certainly won't regret it.
I loved especially to learn about his early years in the academy, I would like to know more about that. And the stories that were just a throw away line on TV - like in the episode "Where no man has gone before" which I rewatched yesterday. Now I know how exactly it came that Gary Mitchell took a dart for him. Later in the book it is more a re-telling of events we already have witnessed, but still a twist here, a turn there, a missing scene added, some thoughts and feelings. I loved it from start till end.
I picked up this book at noon in Forbidden Planet in London, and when I arrived home at midnight I was through. . It kept me company in the plane and in the bus and arriving home two hours later than planned wasn't a problem at all. As I was in outer space in my mind.
And all those familiar names - Tom Leighton, Ben Finney and his daughter Jamie, Sean Finnegan, Ruth, Gary Mitchell, Captain Garrowick, Carol Marcus, both Deckers.... They all are no longer just characteres in a TV show, they are now real people to me. The stories get connected with each other, and sometimes we meet them again much later. We follow Kirk from his beginnings as he is serving on the "Republic", "Farragut" and "Hotspur", making his way up before becoming the captain of the "Enterprise".
A foreword by McCoy and an afterword by Spock make this book round and wonderful and lovely. You certainly won't regret it.
I loved especially to learn about his early years in the academy, I would like to know more about that. And the stories that were just a throw away line on TV - like in the episode "Where no man has gone before" which I rewatched yesterday. Now I know how exactly it came that Gary Mitchell took a dart for him. Later in the book it is more a re-telling of events we already have witnessed, but still a twist here, a turn there, a missing scene added, some thoughts and feelings. I loved it from start till end.
I picked up this book at noon in Forbidden Planet in London, and when I arrived home at midnight I was through. . It kept me company in the plane and in the bus and arriving home two hours later than planned wasn't a problem at all. As I was in outer space in my mind.
