While engaged in a surveying mission light years from Federation territory, the starship Enterprise receives word that the Organians — the advanced beings who enforce peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire — have suddenly vanished. As they begin the months-long journey back through Klingon space to investigate, Scotty develops a new version of the transporter, one designed to teleport a person across the galaxy instantaneously. When it is used to send Spock to the Organian homeworld, however, the transport fails, producing two indistinguishable Spocks. Captain Kirk is now faced with the task to deciding which one is the true Spock, and which is the reversed duplicate of his friend who must be destroyed.
Such is the premise of James Blish's novel, which is something of a historical artifact. Originally published in 1970, it is the very first original Star Trek novel written for adults, the progenitor of the shelves of novels, novellas, and short story collections that have been published since. In this respect Blish was blazing a trail followed by everyone since, which makes reading it from today's vantage point an interesting experience. Longtime fans will find more than a few idiosyncracies and anachronisms in its pages, while the story's resolution is so overblown as to leave the reader wondering whether Blish seriously believed that it would hold up. Such reactions, though, point as well to the underlying pleasure of the book, which bears virtually none of the weight of the overstuffed franchise and still holds value as a result.
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Leonard Nimoy was best known all over the world for his starring role and for his portrayal of Spock in the Star Trek: The Original Series Universe. And that's the starring role and that's the portrayal that kind of stuck with him for a large portion of his life, because of Star Trek's phenomena and Star Trek popularity across the world. Needless to say, the starring role of Spock wasn't the only role in his acting career, and this truly beautiful autobiography of his delves into this, his other guest starring or starring roles and his past life personal or professional experiences, which he was humble enough and kind enough to share with the world. Spock wasn't exactly my favorite, but even I could recognize parts of Spock in his writing, which is proof enough that he inherited some of Spock's character and personality traits during the filming of the series. I believe that's why hence the book's title. Leonard Nimoy wasn't exactly perfect, for he also had faults, like all of us do, but if this book of his indicates anything, it indicates that he was a truly kind, truly humble, and truly wise human being who knew and has lived the meaning and the purpose of his life.
