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5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, Dec 21 2003
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I received it as a gift ten years ago, and I still reread it from time to time. I enjoy it thoroughly each time. The Kobayashi Maru is a simulator exercise all command students at Starfleet Academy must go through to test how well they respond to losing. Decades after they took the test, several officers of the starship Enterprise leave the ship in a small shuttlecraft on what is supposed to be a routine mission. When the shuttlecraft is disabled, cutting off the craft's communications and other vital functions, they are left with nothing but time, and they end up telling each other about their experiences with the Kobayashi Maru exercise. My favorite of the four stories is that of Scotty, who is in command school at Starfleet Academy to please his mother but feels that he is "meant more for commanding machines than commanding people." My second favorite is the story of Sulu, who in his first year in command school learns painful lessons about life, death, and meaning from his great-grandfather. This story makes me cry every time. I also like the story of Chekov, whose passions, resentments, and blind spots will remind the mature of what it was like to be an adolescent pickling in emotional turmoil. I felt that the story of Kirk was the weakest of the four; Kirk can't accept the concept of losing and will do anything to avoid coming face to face with defeat. For a man who is supposed to be intelligent and skilled, this is an asinine attitude. Life is about losing, and the sooner one comes to terms with that, the sooner one starts to grow. On the whole, however, this book is outstanding.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting frame story., May 6 2003
The external, "frame" part of this story is obviously simply an excuse to set the stage for the four internal stories; as such, it actually wound up being better than expected, if somewhat predictable. The internal stories are the stories of how each of Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov reacted to the "Kobayashi Maru" scenerio in their academy days, ostensibly told by each to the others to pass the time.The biggest problem here is that the author goes to all that trouble to establish that the characters are telling their own stories, and then tells the stories in third person/omniscient narrator format. Granted, given that no one has ever claimed that any of the above characters are accomplished storytellers, if would have been difficult to keep the stories in their own voices, but it would have been much better if it could have been managed. As a more minor problem, there are bits and pieces of each story that don't quite ring true, but that's a subjective assessment. They weren't bad, and certainly were worth reading. But none of them were quite what I would have liked to see. As a whole, this book is worth reading, but not one of the best.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good read, April 19 2003
Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, and Chekov are stranded around the campfire as it were and so they decide to past the time by relating their experiences on the famed Kobyashi Maru test for the benefit of all - especially Dr. McCoy who as a medical officer never took the command school scenario-test. Each story provides further insight into each of the characters even if it is a little predictable at times. The reader is treated to a better understanding of Kirk's famous solution, a "Die-Hard-like" Chekov episode, a touching Sulu offering, and a very humorous Scott contribution. It's worth the time it takes to read it even though I have a hard time believing that Captain Sulu would have reacted to the test in the manner that he did.
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