Dancing Barefoot 
By Wil Wheaton
February 2004 
ISBN: 0-596-00674-8
116 pages, $14.95 US, $21.95 CA 
Published by O'Reilly

***

:) :) :) of 5

This book consists of five true short stories by Wil Wheaton,
better known to many of us as Wesley Crusher of the Starship Enterprise.

From the hype, 
I expected to be moved by a few short stories of real life.
From the title,
I expected an experience analogous 
to the kind of connectedness
I've had doing freeform barefoot dancing.

I expected that the writing would be OK
since Wil Wheaton seems rather intelligent.
But I wasn't expecting great art
since Wil Wheaton has no track record as a writer
and I hadn't heard any ou's and ah's about his writing.

Yes, and a tad more.

The book contains 4 very short short stories
and one comparatively long short story --
all purportedly true. 
Are they true?
From a literal perspective,
how would I know?
What I can say is that, to me,
they have a ring of artistic truth
and they are moving.

Is this great art? 
Not to me, but I wasn't expecting it to be.

There were a number of drawings 
by Ben Claassen III
that were an unexpected bonus.
They were light hearted and alive
and fit very well 
with the flavor of the stories and the book.

Once I started reading the book,
I didn't put it down until I was done.
It's not a very long book,
but still that's an indication
that it did get hold of me.

IMO this book may be for you
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 dislike any of the following,
this book is likely not for you:
* sentimentality
* personal accounts
* geeks

Wil Wheaton has a book entitled "Just A Geek"
due to be published later this year.
I look forward to reading it.
I gather that he is now a computer specialist.
Interesting.

March 2004