All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio

From the Publisher

How to win at poker. The power of a business's mission statement. If you can dial a telephone, you can do anything. These are the lessons to be learned from "Star Trek." First a hit television show, and then a pop culture phenomenon, "Star Trek" is now the basis for inspiration and guidance in our daily lives. ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM WATCHING STAR TREK is an anthology of valuable lessons that can be found within the episodes of "Star Trek." Discover why its dangerous to wear a plain red shirt, why Captain Kirk was such a superb leader, and why you should always help people in need.

Library Journal

Relying on uncanny instincts and a seriocomic approach, this first-time author strikes very close to home as he cleverly illustrates how we can improve and better understand our lives: apply the morals and lessons portrayed in that American icon known as Star TrekR. Using a hilarious first-person narrative, Marinaccio takes dozens of day-to-day situations and shows how we may glean from this 1960s space opera a more intuitive, aggressive, and successful approach to dealing with them. Citing many examples, including relationships, job satisfaction and management, family, peace, war, love, hate, life, death, and the overall nature of humanity, Marinaccio explains how ``every situation you will face in life has already been faced by the crew of the Starship EnterpriseTM.'' While obsessive Star TrekR fans might be distracted by minute errors in trivia, the author provides a fast, enjoyable, and inspirational read. Well recommended for all public libraries and a strong addition to self-help collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/94.]-Charles A. Weiss, ``Library Journal''

School Library Journal

YA-Another of the numerous slender volumes that tells readers all they need to know. What Marinaccio does here is to filter life experiences and situations through Star Trek-colored glasses. He uses Captain James T. Kirk, Dr. Leonard ``Bones'' McCoy, Spock, et al., and scenarios from the '60s TV series to illustrate how to make decisions that affect one's work, relationships, relaxation, outlook, and sense of self, etc. The result is a seriocomic, readable book.-John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

BookList

In an era when reasonable people seriously discuss the deeper meanings and representations of "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island", it should come as no surprise that someone has written a book discussing "Star Trek" as the source of all useful knowledge. The surprise would doubtless be if no one found any meaning inherent in a given 1960s or 1970s TV series. This slim volume resembles others in the pop-culture-as-guide-to-life subgenre. Its raw material is a little richer than usual, since both "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" are laden with intentionally meaningful bits as well as the unintentionally meaningful nuggets this kind of book so often unearths: for instance, as Marinaccio points out, in any ST group shot, the array of the characters' national and planetary origins bespeaks A Deeper Meaning. Ultimately, Marinaccio's effort is neither a typical Trekkie book nor a typical collection of inspirational bromides and insights; still, it functions as both. It's a potentially worthwhile addition to both pop culture materials and any collection of light, reflective humor.

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