Chilling With Mr Spock

Hello Readers,

Recently, as a belated birthday gift, I got the following book, Mr Spock’s Little Book of Mindfulness: How to Survive in an Illogical World (sponsored link) a fun, lighthearted book that explores Vulcan philosophy and Star Trek lore. In reality, the book draws upon a lot of spiritual guidance from more contemporary sources (particularly Taoist sources) and actual quotes from the original series, in the guise of Vulcan teachings. It’s fun to imagine a whole planet of Vulcans more or less living by this ethos though.

Mr Spock is among my favorite characters of all time in Star Trek, or any science-fiction series, and a source of inspiration since I was a kid. For me, the book did a pretty nice job balancing the Star Trek lore with some genuine, practical advice for life, while also keeping a good sense of humor. The artwork alone was terrific.

One quote I did want to share though was:

Look at yourself. Are you an Original Series Spock, or an evolved, Movie Spock? Do you deny the flawed side of your nature or have you come to terms with it, even learned to enjoy it?

WOULD YOU SAVE CHEKOV OR LEAVE HIM BEHIND?

page 91

This is a reference to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the one with the whales). The movie is unusual in focusing on Spock’s efforts to explore his human side (“how do you feel?”) and when deciding whether to save Chekov from the 1980’s hospital, uncharacteristically suggests they should do it “because it’s the human thing to do”.

Anyhow, great book, lots of fun, and good food for thought.