This is basically Sean Astin's autobiography. The first 1/3 talks about his movie career prior to the LOTR movies, focusing mostly on ENCINO MAN forward. The last 2/3 is about the filming of LOTR and the aftermath of their release.

Astin primarily focuses on his emotional and philosphical challenges over the course of the book. He name-drops a lot of actors he worked with, drops and anecdote or two, and then over-analyzes their relationship.

Most of the book is Astin navel-gazing, actually. It gets hard to read him talking over and over again about how he wishes he could be closer to this person or that person, how he had his feelings hurt by this person, how there was a misunderstanding between them, etc. etc.

There ARE some interesting tidbits, particularly about his father, John Astin, and some funny moments with several of the actors during the LOTR, but I just kept wanting Sean to lighten up and ENJOY what he was doing. He's SO serious that he comes across as a whiney killjoy at times. Strangely, his autobiography was not self-serving AT ALL. In fact, several of the actors finally do wind up telling him basically to "lighten up," and I couldn't agree more.

A diverting read, but not a book I'll ever revisit.