It’s no secret that I’m a huge Star Trek fan. Well, at least now it’s no huge secret.

I must confess—I love Space.

I love watching shows about Space, reading books about Space. I wish I could travel back in Space and Time and witness the first Moon landing on a black and white television—feeling that initial shock and awe that is so lost when reading about this great feat.

Are you starting to understand how much I love Space?

I love it.

In fact, I love Space so much that I even love people who’ve been to “fake Space.”

George Takei is one of my favorite “fake Space” people. He played Hikaru Sulu on the television show Star Trek and reprised this role in six movies. He also attends Comic Con, a lot (which is also a great place to be in Space and Time).

And although Takei has spent a large portion of his life pretending to be in Space (a worthy calling), he’s also managed to do many good things right here on Earth as well.

Openly gay, Takei is a tireless Gay Rights activist. But his dedication to human rights doesn’t end there. During his youth (after the bombing of Pearl Harbor) Takei was one of the many Japanese Americans unjustly sent to internment camps. Takei writes about this horrific experience often, and in the article “Why We Must Remember Rohwer,” states,

Over 70 years ago, my family and I were forced from our home in Los Angeles at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers and sent to Rohwer, all because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. I was just five years old, and would spend much of my childhood behind barbed wire in that camp and, later, another in California called Tule Lake. One hundred twenty thousand other Japanese Americans from the West Coast suffered a similar fate.

Takei has spent most of his adult life attempting to strengthen Japanese-American relations, and has won many awards for his work strengthening these bonds.

Yet, although Takei has spent much of his life aiding serious causes, he also has a very playful side.

Takei’s humorous nature does not surprise me.

Often, humor is born from times of hardship. And although Takei has experienced, no doubt, great fun pretending to be in Space, he’s also spent a lot of time enduring real hardship and injustice here on Earth.

His humor inspires me. Like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, the below Amazon.com reviews by George Takei highlight how even when we’ve experienced darkness we can still access the light.

So enjoy. These reviews are truly hillairous and very well-written.

And remember, Christmas is just around the corner, too.

Perhaps these reviews will inspire a last minute gift…or not:

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Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photos: Distractify, elephant archives & flickr