Books as artefacts
from fictional universes tend to rely on novelty to remain interesting. More
often than not, things pretending to be ‘real’ starship manuals or magical
bestiaries tend to break the illusion at some point as the needs of the story
overrides the illusion. The Autobiography
of James T. Kirk avoids this by taking itself 100% seriously and the same
time by having its tongue rammed firmly in its cheek.

For a start, this book follows the adventures of the Shatner version of Kirk,
rather than the movie reboot version. It’s also a fairly complete account of
the good captain’s life, starting with Kirk talking about the circumstances of
his birth and running all the way to just before his last mission (Spock
provides a rather poignant epitaph at the end which is suitably both cheesy and
profound).

David A. Goodman captures Kirks voice perfectly throughout,
and the result is a clever, sardonic and insightful episode guide of sorts. The
book, after all, is Kirk talking about how he felt about the various missions
he was involved in and how they affected him personally. Goodman takes the
opportunity to give Kirk closure at key points; Kirk comes to terms with the
multiple deaths of those he’s worked with and so on.  This is a book written by a (fictional) older
man looking back on his life with a wry sense of humour and decades of really
weird experiences.

This is not a book for the casual fan; a strong familiarity
of the source material is necessary to get many of the jokes and to understand
where the captain of the Enterprise is coming from. For example, there’s an
absolutely lovely snark at Star Trek VI:
The Undiscovered Country which would make no sense to anyone who hadn’t
seen it, but is one of the best gags in the book.

The Autobiography of James T. Kirk is
a lovely thing; it’s an entirely in-universe book that at the same time
provides meta-commentary on what makes Star
Trek such an enduring and endearing show. Lots of fun and highly
recommended.