The Autobiography of James T. Kirk (Star Trek Autobiographies Series)

AMAZING!!!! It fills in so many gaps. You getting to discover things you probably didn't really know about this amazing character and his crew. It shows his meeting ppl important to the series and something I found super important. It tells the story behind why kirk calls Mccoy bones. Something I'd always assumed was about him being a Dr but it's much more than that. I love getting inside look at Kirk's life

At long last, Memory Alpha historian David Goodman has presented what appears to be a heavily edited version of the dictated autobiography of the late Captain James T. Kirk. While the story is--as one would expect--thrilling, serious scholars of Starfleet history are likely to be disappointed by the lack of answers to long-held questions about Kirk's two famous five-year missions. Goodman's failure to provide any editorial introduction to explain how the book was written is particularly problematic. While it's understandable that the passages on the better-known incidents of Kirk's voyages, such has his infamous encounters with Khan Noonien Singh, would be kept brief, the serious student longs for greater detail. And other, lesser-known incidents of Kirk's voyages--for instance his first contact with the Legarans, virtually unknown even to serious Kirk scholars--ought to be more thoroughly covered.By far the most startling revelation in Kirk's memoirs are his allegations that Admiral Heihachiro Nogura oversaw an illegal genetic experiment on the planet Dimorus. If true, this accusation is a devastating blow to the reputation of one of Starfleet's most highly respected admirals, and one long believed to have been close friends with Kirk. Kirk's claims are plausible, and there is no obvious reason to doubt them, but there is also as yet no corroborating evidence to sustain his account. Goodman must bring forth the original transcripts of Kirk's interviews and any other evidence that might support these scandalous claims, particularly given the sensitivity of Federation-Klingon relations in the post-Khitomer era. The need for confirmation here is especially important, given Kirk's admission in his memoirs that on least two occasions, he falsified entries in his own Captain's Log. (The context makes clear, however, that these incidents hardly justify the verdict of one Klingon reviewer who has labeled the book "a tissue of lies from humanity's greatest intergalactic criminal.")Also missing is information that Kirk scholars have long searched for--for example, Kirk's thoughts regarding the scientific fraud perpetuated by his son, Dr. David Marcus, in the use of protomatter as part of the disastrous Genesis Experiment. Marcus's death, and his mother's disappearance into seclusion after the destruction of the Genesis Planet, has left much of this incident unaccounted for. How much Carol Marcus knew about what became one of the greatest scientific failures of the 23rd century--arguably responsible, not only for the destruction of the planet, but for the deaths of the Genesis scientific crew, and the crew of the USS Grissom--remains a hotly disputed mystery. If Kirk had any light to shine on it, this book provides none. It also makes no mention of Kirk's marriage to Miramanee, of his thoughts on the use of his genetic material as a tool of planned genocide on Gideon, or of that most controversial of his decisions, the destruction of Vaal.One final (but hardly the last) example of the book's frustrating silence is Kirk's thoughts regarding the origins of V'Ger, and the eerie similarity to his encounter years before with Nomad, another Terran space probe that emerged from oblivion on a deadly mission of "protecting" machines from what it believed to be organic pollution. Many cutting-edge scientists, at Starfleet and at the Vulcan Science Academy, among others, have speculated for years that the two probes may have encountered the same unknown species of cybernetic organisms ("a race of living machines," in Captain Spock's words) which assimilated these probes and dispatched them to digitize organic life and incorporate it into its matrix. If so, this race could present an extraordinary danger to Federation worlds in the future, and debates still rage as to whether Starfleet should invest in defense weaponry now, or whether resistance would be futile. Kirk was certainly party to these important discussions, but this book makes no reference to them.Kirk was a reticent man--a man, as Spock famously said, of "deep feelings," who was typically silent about them. Yet he was also extraordinarily intelligent and well-schooled. His media reputation as a swashbuckling playboy does violence to the character of a man who, for all his faults, was a dedicated leader and a highly competent scientific thinker. Kirk's dictation of this manuscript was completed shortly before the tragic incident on the Enterprise-B, in which Kirk's life was lost, and it is unclear how complete Kirk considered it (another thing editor Goodman withholds from us). It's understandable that, at the threshold of retirement, Kirk's thoughts would turn largely to his failed personal relationships, his love of family, and other personal matters, rather than giving the historian insight on the questions that his explorations have left us. Yet it is a shame that Starfleet's greatest and most successful captain has left us a memoir that raises still more questions.Still, it is a beginning. If Goodman will release the uexpurgated memory tapes of the original recordings of these dictations, he will have done historians a tremendous service.

Let's go with the pros and cons:Pros:*Ties together beautifully the disjointed segments of Kirk's past mentioned throughout the series and movies.*Prose flows very well and is easy to read.*Seeing the inner turmoil of Kirk despite his exterior confidence is a great concept (and is often true with leaders).*Written by one of the writers of Star Trek: Enterprise, and uses his knowledge of the planned 5th season to include some tantalizing new information about the unseen Romulan War.*Gives Kirk true dimensionality when it comes to the relationships he had with women over the years, instead of just keeping them a long string of one-night stands.*The many "long-time" friendships/acquanitances or one-off characters we are introduced to in the series are really fleshed out, and really help to give depth that was otherwise fairly lacking.*Excellent in his depiction of how the crew we've come to know got assembled--in a manner that doesn't feel at all contrived mirrors how we as people forge connections and friendships over our lives.*How Kirk came to implicitly trust Spock is really rather well-done.*The explanation of Star Trek V is... well... appreciated, since the plot of the movie was never even close to good "science" fiction.*Finally gives depth to Kirk regarding the numerous crewmembers that die under Kirk's command over the years and how that would actually affect a REAL person.Cons:*Scientific error - at one point, Kirk is exposed to the vacuum of space, and the writer has him HOLD HIS BREATH until he can beback in an oxygen environment. This is a VERY COMMON HOLLYWOOD MISTAKE, and it is unfortunate that Mr. Goodman (or his editor) didn't check into the science of this before he published the book, as this prevented us from giving it a 5-star rating. Unlike holding yourbreath underwater (which is where this erroneous association comes from), doing so in space will kill a person pretty quickly, as their lungs will rupture, and oxygen bubbles will be forced into their blood stream. 2001: A Space Odyssey made this very same mistake and the science community pointed this fact out (just google: "can you hold your breath in space?" or "2001 scientific inaccuracies").*Scientific questionability - After the Enterprise travels back in time 3 days from the planet Psi 2000, Kirk orders that they return and collect the crew from the planet...and do! This would create a paradox, in that they would encounter their former selves and disrupt their own timeline from occurring. It is not as if time gets erased in the entire universe just because one thing travels back in time. Granted, one can make the argument for their arriving in a different quantum reality, but this added segment felt to be pushing it. (Yes, I know Andre Bormanis said it was possible, but I'm not so sure.)*Too many naming of Family Guy or Enterprise co-workers throughout anytime an non-canon officer is in the story; the most uncomfortable being quite literally the "Peter Griffin" character, with a "gag" to go with it.*Several typos - "aother" instead of "another"; pg 149 wrote "jump- started" with a space instead of "jump-started"; pg 98, last paragraph - format error - two sentences spoken by two different characters inside one paragraphpg 105 Sol System, pg 211 Solar System, pg224 Solar System, pg 250 Sol System, -- "Sol System" is correct since it referring to the name of our planetary system (a proper noun), while "Solar System" is not correct ; if "Solar System" is used in its correct context (referring to it as a term for our planetary system only and not by its name--thereby a noun), it would not be capitalized ("solar system"). The same is true when the author states "Galaxy" throughout the book; this also should not be capitalized, as it is not a proper noun.(google: history nasa gov printFriendly styleguide)Overall:Having read the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, Goodman does a great job in aligning Kirk's life to the thinking and internal self-questioning that the Hornblower character had, which is very appropriate in that Gene Roddenberry himself envisioned Kirk as a Horation Hornblower in space (granted, Christopher Pike was more so in retrospect, but the analogy still applies to our familiar captain).If he could make the correction to the science errors in future printings, and the other typos, I think this would translate very well to a graphic novel, and even better if Shatner himself were to read it for the audio version.Thank you Mr. Goodman; we recommend your book. Now please write one on the Romulan War we missed out on!

A superb all encompassing account of Captain Kirk's life from childhood to after the last Classic crew Star Trek film. It very cleverly weaves through his childhood, academy years, first years in Starfleet with the bulk of the book recounting classic series adventures. What I was most impressed with was how it so organically linked the end of the first 5 year mission into the Kirk crew feature films. It offers an interesting insight into the mind of character throughout the different stages of his life. You can hear Kirk's voice as you read. Highly recommended.

Having been a fan of Star Trek since it was originally first shown this was a very compelling book to read and being in the form of an autobiography was definitely interesting.It was very interesting learning about James Kirks early formative years and the sequence of events that lead to him becoming the Captain of the Enterprise, especially those that had been hinted at in the series. It was also nice to get a different perspective into many of the events that were covered in the series and films, which included many pre or post event extras.On the whole it made the character of James T Kirk more real, showing that he suffered from most of the same doubts and frailties the rest of us all suffer from.

Very disappointed in this Star Wars book. While the addition of a new character (Captain Kirk) was good, it was missing many beloved classic characters. Where was Yoda? Chewbacca? BB-8? All missing. I gave this book as a present and the giftee was very disappointed in me.Just kidding, in all seriousness, I knew this was a Star Trek book before purchase and the giftee was actually a big Star Trek fan who enjoyed the book. However, I hope you got a good laugh out of the above.

I really loved this book and if you are a fan of the original Star Trek series and movies then you will love this too. This is the story of the original James Tiberius Kirk as played by the legendary William Shatner and covers his life from a small boy to his supposed death. I watched the series and the movies countless times and I really enjoyed matching the episodes to the reflections and recollections detailed in the book. Not every episode in the series gets a mention and this is a good thing. These are the recollections of a legendary Star Fleet captain not a blow by blow account of his adventures. Thoroughly enjoyable and great fun.

This autobiography is basically the highlights from both the star trek series and movies from Kirk's perspective with some more interesting information on his route to the captain's chair at the start of the story.I enjoyed the early section most and then the trip through the film's was basically a plot overview, still that isn't the worst thing!There is probably nothing in this book which is new to the Trek cannon but as a non expert I really enjoyed it.One star removed for trying to claim the fifth Trek movie (the final frontier) was not part of the cannon, it's a film they observe on a planetary away team trip!