My, My, Myyy!

Most of my friends who use Facebook are aware by now that George Takei is pretty much the best thing going on Facebook. Over the past few years, he has built up a formidable social media presence that has grown far beyond the core group who knew him as "Star Trek's Mr. Sulu." He sometimes uses that presence to advocate for two causes close to his heart: LGBT rights and education about the U.S. government's internment of Japanese citizens during World War II.

Mostly, though, he uses his presence to make people laugh. His Facebook wall has become a hub where fans share hilarious internet memes, and he in turn shares them with all of us. He'll post as many as a dozen things each day, and at least one is going to make you literally laugh out loud.

You may wonder how a man, at an age where many people aren't even sure how to operate a computer, managed to become one of the most popular personalities on Facebook. Now you can find out from the man himself: George Takei has recently published a book titled "Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet)." In keeping with his tech savvy, the book is available only in e-format, readily available from all the major retailers of e-books.

The book is relatively short, but it's as entertaining as any of Takei's Facebook fans have come to expect. And it's a blend of many different kinds of things all in one. If you're just looking for a few "greatest hits" from his Facebook posts, you get plenty of that. If you're looking for humor, Takei has many humorous insights of his own packed between other people's funny pictures. If you want some pointers on how to build and maintain a high-profile social media presence, (maybe you're a publicist or something?) you most definitely get that. You even get a little introspection and philosophy. And while it's not really a biography (he already published one of those a while back), you do get a few highlights of some things he's been up to lately.

Through it all, you get a real sense of George Takei's personality. He comes off as a truly young-at-heart man, not only unapologetic for rarely "acting his age," but so authentic in that way of being that you'd never imagine he needed to apologize. It's abundantly clear how he has managed to thrive on first Twitter and then Facebook, because he "gets" it in a way that many people don't. Read this book, and you'll get Takei's humorous thoughts on why cats are funny and bacon is awesome, his probing observations on the best and worst of modern pop culture, and his surprisingly insightful realizations about what motivates many of the people who interact heavily online.

I found Oh Myyy! to be a brisk and entertaining read, and would rate it a B+. You can pick it up for about the price of a movie ticket, and get more from it than the average movie will deliver.