Read Online To The Stars Formulated By George Takei Formatted As Audio Books

Sulu only plays a small part in the life of George "Oh MY" Takei, He's the most eloquent writer of the Star Trek family and has the most compelling biography, However, this book never touches on Takei's homosexuality, The book is rich enough not to need sexual spice, though, Highly recommended! A surprisingly OK read, from start to finish, I read this primarily to learn more about George Takei's experience as one of,Japanese Americans held behind barbed wire in internment camps by the United States during World War II, and imagined that I'd put the book down when that part of his story was over.
But Takei is a good enough storyteller that I kept reading 'til the end, learning much more about Star Trek in the process than I ever imagined knowing.
Note to potential readers: this book was released in, before Takei came out of the closet and became a prominent LGBT rights activist, and also before he became a social media phenom.
A few new chapters in the story of George Takei are in order!

A few key passages and notes for me:

Internment camps:

"There was tiny, sparrowlike Mrs.
Takahashi, with four children, whose husband had been arrested and taken away by the FBI solely because he was a Buddhist minister.
And there was Mrs. Yasuda, with two children and an elderly mother, whose husband was taken by federal officials because he was a Japanese language schoolteacher.
Both were separated from husbands, who had been taken without trials or even formal charges their only crime being that they occupied positions of high visibility in the Japanese community.
"

"In actual fact, there was not a single case of treason by Americans of Japanese ancestry.
The only American citizens arrested for espionage against the United States during the war were two Caucasians, Yet, disregarding the facts and blind to the pain, injury and anguish inflicted in pitiless succession on an already incarcerated people, the deskbound bureaucrats of Washington.
. . devised a program of astounding cruelty, Loyalty Questionnaires I saw the moment when Mama was making the decision to answer nono on her loyalty questionnaire.
It was an act that was going to have her categorized "disloyal" by the U, S. government and the beginning of Mama's eventual loss of her American citizenship, "

Takei's materal grandparents and an aunt were in Hiroshima when the U, S. first used "a new bomb, more destructive than anything previously invited by man, " His grandparents survived, but his aunt Ayako "died with her baby in the fiery holocaust, "

On citizenship:

"Daddy explained that citizenship is to be a member of a country or a city or a community but more than that, to be a citizen is to subscribe to a set of values.
When young George asked why he wanted to be a member of this country when he didn't have to, he answered 'Citizenship is a choice.
Some people are born with it but never do anything about it, That's not real citizenship. That's only paper status. You have to consciously decide to give it meaning, " "For me, there was a great struggle to make my citizenship possible, by people who wanted to give me that choice, by people who believe in America's best ideals.
" "America is a strange country, Despite everything, it's still a nation of ieals, Yes, justice here is neither blind nor fair, It only reflects the society, But this is an open society where people who want to can become part of it, The system here is called a participatory democracy, where the important thing is to participate, If people like me aren't willing to take a chance and participate, America stays that much farther from its ideals.
My choice is to be in there with good people like Northern California ACLU cofounder Wayne Collins, the lawyer who is helping Mama with her legal battle.
My choice is to help America be what it claims it is, "

"That night, as I listened to Daddy's fatigued but resolute voice, my understanding of the meaning of American citizenship became as solid as the book lying on his desk.
By the light of the lamp shining on that wellused American history book, America and its ideals were eloquently explained to me by an immigrant, a wartime "enemy alien," an internment camp internee, the husband of a renunciant of her American citizenship my father.
"

Takei was elected student body president of Mt, Vernon Junior High School. "The capper of those three years was the awards assembly, I was recognized for academic and service achievements with the coveted American Legion Award, As honored as I felt, I didn't realize at the time how much this recognition meant to Daddy and Mama.
Only a little more than a decade before, the American Legion had been one of the most virulent voices for the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
Now I was standing onstage as the outgoing student body president receiving the highest award given to a member of the graduating class from that same organization, the American Legion.
"

"As a people, we may have varied histories tracing back to the Mayflower or to slave ships, to splitrail corrals or to barbed wire fences.
But, whatever our histories, however tortured and adversarial they may have been, our destinies are bound inextricably together.
We have a common future, Our challenge lies, not in carrying the weight of our pasts like anchors, but in working in concert to build that common tomorrow.
"

Takei involved in antiVietnam War advocacy with "Entertainment Industry for Peace and Justice many Asian Americans were reticent to speak out.
"The lesson that my father had taught me kept coming to mind, 'A participatory democracy is dependent on participation, Without it, democracy fails. '"

Takei active inPresidential campaign as delegate for antiwar candidate George McGovern, "For this firsttime participant, it was a heady experience, . . to raise my own right hand in casting my vote for George McGovern as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, remembering that just three decades ago I was a boy on a train taking me to a barbed wire camp in the swamps of Arkansas.
Experiences and memories tumbled in on each other in a kaleidoscope of emotions, I looked around at the ecstatic faces that surrounded me, I saw snowyhaired seniors and dewyskinned youths, flintyeyed politicos and beadwearing idealists, I saw black auto workers, Hispanic housewives, Native American attorneys, and Asian schoolteachers, I felt a stirring in my heart and a pride beyond words, "

Leonard Nimoy took a stand for diversity by insisting that Takei and Nichelle Nichols be included as voice actors in the animated series.


"Enterprise is the fuel of civilization, Entrepreneurship creates something out of nothing, An idea turned into action can create products, jobs, and whole industries, It can combine with a vision of society and change the world, Enterprise, however, cannot thrive without two vital elements, It cannot survive without freedom the freedom to think original thoughts, to experiment, and to innovate to take risks with something that has never been thought or done before.
Freedom is the life breath of enterprise, But freedom cannot flourish without another element ethics, Freedom without a common subscription to ethical values is chaos, a wild, dogeatdog abandon, Inevitably, this will bring on the backlash of controls, inhibiting that energy, Essential to protecting and strengthening the muscle of free enterprise is a solid framework of ethics, "
I read most of this one in the bookstore, It's by far the best of the Star Trek cast's biographies, many of which I have read or skimmed in the store.
Seriously, Takei actually talks about his family's experience with the Japanese interment camps, One night in Sept, I sat down in front of the old blackandwhite TV in my bedroom to watch a new TV show called Star Trek.
From the very first episode all the way until today, I am still proud to be a big fan of the whole Star Trek world!

It should be no surprise that when I discovered "To The Stars" by George Takei Mr Sulu to you, I downloaded it from audible.
com and listened. A relatively short book abouthours of audio it covered the life story of our favorite helmsman, From growing up a JapaneseAmerican in the camps during WWII to his entry into acting and his efforts in the world of Star Trek.


A nice book for a Star Trek fan,
As a veteran of the American internment camps during WWII and an aspiring actor during a time

when the parts for Asian leads in movies were still going to the likes of Sir Alec Guinness, George Takei's perspective on race relations in the US is fascinating.
This would be a worthwhile story from any author, but it carries special interest coming from someone who portrayed such a famous, groundbreaking character.


Plus, there are awesome behind the scenes Star Trek stories, “To the Stars” hits several personal notes for me, as I have met some of the amazing people, mentioned and not, in George Takeis autobiography.
Georges personal enthusiasm drives his purpose, and being both a genuine fan himself, as well as one of the essential “forces of nature” behind what he used to call the Star Trek “phenomenon.
” He told me just that in Jan,, as we discussed prospects for a rumored movie version, Alas, we all had to wait, I remember the man, the two hours we talked together, and his passion for living,

Readers of these recollections will hear his voice embedded in these pages, and if listening to his voice on the audio version, will discover within themselves a drive carrying them deeper into theirown realms of visualization and imagination.
“To the Stars” was written as a memorial to Gene Roddenberry and all the dedicated Trekkers who now share their enthusiasm with generations born after the OS, original series, premiered.
Thanks George, for focusing on the positive, yet including enough of the realworld tensions to keep it real.
.

Five for this journey from the JapaneseAmerican internmentcamps” through his journey as an actor to the twentyfifth anniversary and death of its creator, Gene Roddenberry, in.
What is missing, Majel Barrett, who I also met with, Hopefully he will include her powerful presence elsewhere, She was creative, and could argue divergentplot elements with a passion George no doubt encountered, . However, To the Stars is an achievement and I am thankful for the difficult decisions he made about what to include and what not to include in his introduction to these glimpses of his life and career.
So, as noted, IMHO, ! I wish the book was longer, I wanted to know more about him, Enjoyed the audio book because it was read by George Takei, A fascinating biography by George Takei, The biography actually has only a little to do with his stint as Sulu on Star Trek,

What fascinated me was his description of growing up in the internment camps in the US during WWII.
I knew the US interned Americans of Japanese descent during the war our neighbors when I was growing up are Japanese and were interned during the war, but I did not stop to think about what it was like until I read this book.
Strangely enough I read this book during a trip to Japan, I remember staying up until:in the morning one day reading this book, then having to explain to the engineers I was working with why I was so groggy the next day.
I'm pretty sure they either thought I was extremely weird, or ran out to get a copy of this book.
I enjoyed Mr. Takei's early childhood memories with his family, start into show business and Star Trek memoirs, Now I'm eagerly waiting for the "true" autobiography that explains how he handled his homosexuality in Hollywood during a time where you needed to stay "in the closet" just to work.
I am such a George Takei fan! Of all the casts' memoirs, Takei's autobiography is the most poignant.
He spent several years with his family his father a former doctor in San Francisco in an American "internment camp" during WWII and their family lost everything.


I appreciated his honesty and ability to delve into such painful memories to bring to life that atrocity, but more importantly his conquest over racial prejudices that marred that period of history.