By Wil Wheaton
February 2004
Pages: 116
ISBN 10: 0-596-00674-8 |
ISBN 13: 9780596006747
(Average of 3 Customer Reviews)
Wil Wheaton--blogger, geek, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher--gives us five true tales of life, love, and the absurdities of Hollywood in Dancing Barefoot. Far from the usual celebrity tell-all, Dancing Barefoot is a vivid, personal account of Wil's search for his true self. If you've ever fallen in love, attended a Star Trek convention, or pondered the meaning of life, you'll find a kindred soul in the pages of Dancing Barefoot.
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First Edition: February 2004
ISBN: 0-596-00674-8
Pages: 116
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 3 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Dancing Barefoot Review, March 11 2004
A year or so ago I discovered Wil's web site. As soon as he announced his self-published release 1.0 of his book, I pounced and ended up with one of the first copies he mailed out. What a treat! I've probably run through each of the pieces in it four or five times, and it's got a permanent spot in my bed-side book shelf.
All too many times you find that folks In The Movies have way too big egos and way too small brains. Wil, on the other hand is a smart as they come, and he's got a pretty firm grasp on reality. What really make his book a true success for "us" is that tone of writing that only a for-real geek could create. Whether it's his first real meeting with William Shatner, or that confrontation with the off-the-wall Trek fan, Wil's writing makes you feel like you are right there with him in the room.
I like Wil. I like his book. Get it now... just think, 30 years from now you'll be able to say: "Hey... I KNEW Wil was going to be big and I got his Very First Book."
Dancing Barefoot Review, March 04 2004
This book consists of five true short stories by Wil Wheaton,
better known to many of us as Wesley Crusher of the Starship Enterprise.
I'd suggest giving it a try
if you are at least two of the following:
- a geek
- a dancer (though the book doesn't involve literal dancing)
- an artist of some kind
- a feeling person
- a lover of Star Trek
If you wish, check out my somewhat longer review.
Dancing Barefoot Review, December 03 2003
Wil Wheaton's Dancing Barefoot is an great collection of short stories. Wil Wheaton doesn't just tell a good story, he transports you to that point in time which reveals his excellence as an author.
In short, get the book. Enjoy. Rinse and repeat.
Media reviews
"Wheaton writes in a laid-back, chatty manner and truly is a gifted comic...When he's not funny, he's poignant and sincere, which makes for equally compelling reading. Rating: 10/10"
--Paul Hudson, Linux Format, July 2004
"If you're expecting a nerdy book about a nerdy science fiction teen icon you've got another thing coming...Elquent and funny, this little book is a touching window into the life of an all around good guy and a great read."
--Mostly Harmless Magazine, July 2004
"I rate Dancing barefoot a 5 [out of 5], and I thank you, Wil Wheaton, for letting us in on your life, so that we may learn from yours, and take that knowledge, and learn about our own."
--Derek Caudill, MacCompanion, May 2004
http://www.maccompanion.com/archives/may2004/books.html#1
"Mr. Wheaton's writing style is personal and accessible. He writes as if he and the reader are old friends and he's spinning a yarn to entertain and share emotions."
--Melissa McGuire, Glenn Macintosh Users Group, April 2004
"I just put down Dancing Barefoot. Simply put, it was terrific. If you are a fan of Wil's Weblog, WWdN, then you will love this book. It's only 117 pages from cover to cover, but it is definitely worth getting...I really want to talk about the stories a lot more, but I think it would be cruel to take away anyone?s chance to read it for themselves. I give the weblog 4 spuds out of 4. Enjoy!"
--Mitch Malone, BananasOnToast.org, December 2003
http://www.bananasontoast.org/archives/2003_12.html
Reviews: From Wil's website
"If you've followed the recent phenomenon of 'blogging' at all, you've probably run across the weblog (online journal) of Wil Wheaton at wilwheaton.net. Wheaton, best known to film fans as Wesley 'The Boy' Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, has reinvented his public persona from oft-derided teen idol to a kind of affable head-geek. From his web site, the thirty-something actor and writer dispatches frequent updates about his working and personal life, his memories and thoughts on the Trek experience, and the technology that fascinates him and his geek brethren.
After nearly two years of blogging, Wheaton compiled and edited an autobiography from his blog entitled Just a Geek, to be released in June 2003. Several of the stories which "didn't fit" into Geek have been collected in a smaller companion volume, Dancing Barefoot, which is now available from Wheaton's publishing company, Monolith Press. The legions of Trek fans who have rediscovered Wheaton as a guy much like themselves, as well as those weblog readers who enjoy Wil's humor but don't know the difference between trilithium and tribbles, will find Barefoot irresistable. Those with only a casual interest in Wheaton but familiar with Trek will find the book's showpiece, 'The Saga of Spongebob Vegas Pants,' well worth reading. Wheaton's conversational, intimate writing style may even convince them to read the rest of the book. Cartoon illustrations provided by Ben A. Claassen III are an excellent complement to the casual writing style.
Barefoot begins with four short pieces, essentially vignettes of days (or even moments) in the author's life. These range from the amusing (ruminations on teenaged lust and paths untaken) to the melancholy ('Houses in Motion,' a paean to Wheaton's deceased great aunt), and one needn't be told that they were culled from journal entries, because they very much read that way. The best is 'Houses' -- although it sometimes ranges into maudlin territory, it is also the most courageous writing in the book. Wheaton's generation has been raised on a diet of pop culture and cynicism, and it's invigorating -- if somewhat startling -- to see someone of that generation openly expressing such feelings of devotion and despair.
The man who spent his formative years aboard the starship Enterprise departs from the short form for the final and most engrossing portion of the book, the aforementioned 'Spongebob Vegas Pants.' It's the chronicle of a Star Trek convention held in Las Vegas, during which Wheaton tolerates the alternatingly ugly and kindly faces of fandom, but eventually rediscovers his enthusiasm for the Trek universe. Those who have attended such conventions will immediately recognize the fan archetypes, while those who have never been to such an event may decide that they never, ever want to. Fortunately, the story is less about the horrors of being a convention guest and more about the resolution of Wheaton's conflicted personal feelings about having been a part of the Trek phenomenon -- including his unpleasant run-ins with the original captain of the Enterprise, referred to repeatedly as 'William F---ing Shatner.'
Certain sections of Dancing Barefoot could have used another turn under an editor's pen. 'Sponge Bob Vegas Pants,' in particular, has a few passages that don't serve the story much, but as with the deleted scenes on a special edition DVD, some readers will be grateful for the extra material, regardless of how it affects the overall pace. Frequent atticisms will sustain the rest of the book's audience through the book's slower passages, though, and the author's humility is an effective antidote for the feeling that one might be about to read the memoirs of yet another self-indulgent celebrity blowhard -- which Mr. Wheaton certainly is not.
Given that the engaging Dancing Barefoot comprises the material that didn't make it into Just A Geek, it feels much like an appetizer to the larger work. Let's hope the main course is as tasty."
--Christopher Holland
