Just a Geek: Unflinchingly honest tales of the search for life, love, and fulfillment beyond the Starship Enterprise - Wil Wheaton

GoodReads Summary: Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture "Stand By Me," and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart "Just a Geek." In this bestselling book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family. The stories in "Just a Geek" include: Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor, discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design, the struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger, gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster, moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family, and the transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author.

Wil Wheaton is a weird character. Some of this acting I find bad, but some are incredible natural (compare his early Wesley Crusher acting with his late The Guild acting. Also, assorted Big Bang Theory episodes).

On the other hand, writing seems to be his strongest point -- something that we reckons himself in this book.

In "Just a Geek", Wheaton collects some of his blog posts from wilwheaton.net and tells the story behind them. In a way, it's the reverse of Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road: Instead of telling what was happening with hidden emotions and then telling the truth in other media (in "Ghost Rider", it's Neil letters), here Wheaton sounds like everything is going fine in the blog posts -- at least, in the first ones -- and tells what was wrong in the book itself.

I feel like an idiot describing this, because it sounds too much like some marketing/paid content, but the book goes from the child actor in Star Trek: The Next Generation era to his internet celebrity point (although it doesn't go into the internet-video era, with The Guild) and Wheaton admits all his errors and how he "found himself" (anyone who had to go through this road can related to his story).

It's nice to read, even to get some idea behind TNG. It's direct, with Wheaton telling every time he got pissed with himself. And, in the end, it's a very well written book, although there is a lot of content coming from other sources.