Goodbye, Spock.

I don't do this.  I don't memorialize celebrities.  If there's one thing I refuse to do, it's to hold up a celebrity as a hero. 

That said, I cried today when I found out that Leonard Nimoy had died.  In many ways, Leonard Nimoy has been part of my life longer than many other people I know.  I was a Star Trek fan almost from birth, and I loved Spock. 

As an outcast kid and teenager, too geeky, too smart, too young, it was so easy to empathize with Spock.  No one really understood me, I often felt.  And there were many times when I wished I could shut off all of my emotions and be as coldly logical as our favorite Vulcan. 

As I got older, I started to recognize other things about the character of Spock--in some ways, as I matured, so did Spock (and my understanding of Spock).  My Spock is not the Spock of the television show, but the Spock of the movies, the one who had come to embrace both his human and Vulcan sides, to combine the best of two worlds, into neither of which he truly fit.  He had a dry sense of humor that only those close to him understood, was self-sacrificing and who looked for the good of the many, rather than the good of the one. 

I realize that I'm seemingly memorializing a character, rather than the actor who played him, but for Leonard Nimoy's protestations to the contrary, he was Spock.  And as a friend of mine said earlier today: You can say this about his life; he made many people very happy.  I was one of those people. 

There are few celebrities whose deaths really affected me.  The only other celebrity death I've ever cried for was Mr. Rogers.  Fred Rogers' death was also like the death of an old and dear friend.  They were people I grew up with, and in spite of never having met them, felt close to.  My heart hurts today because Leonard Nimoy is gone, and Planet Earth will never be quite the same.

News: Amazon buys Goodreads

I've never been particularly abashed about my love for Goodreads, particularly after LivingSocial decided it wasn't going to continue on with its original business plan. So I was understandable a little anxious when I read this article from CNET today about Amazon acquiring Goodreads. 

I use Goodreads for a number of things--first and foremost is to keep up with what I read.  I read so much that it's handy to have Goodreads there, especially as an app on my phone, to keep me from buying a book over again.  It also helps me track what I read. 

I also like being able to put my reviews down at Goodreads.  For my reviews, I often review a book here at the blog, then copy/paste my review, sans any graphics, over at Goodreads with a link to the original post.  Sometimes publishers also request that I put a review over on Amazon when I'm finished reading a book.  To distinguish myself from those reviewers, I always make sure that my disclaimer about receiving a copy of the book is front and center (though I have wondered if I should also put that my publication of the review there is at the request of the publisher, or if that is understood.  Thoughts?). 

I think what may concern me is privacy problems.  My Goodreads is linked to my Facebook, which I don't particularly want linked to my Amazon account.  I also don't want Amazon automatically updating my Goodreads when I order things. 

I understand what Amazon can bring to the table.  The message from Goodreads' founders that was on the site today expressed excitement about being able to connect to e-readers, though in this case that will mean the Kindle, and almost assuredly, the Kindle alone, which I think is going be a problem for Barnes and Noble. I would have much rather seen Goodreads move for some kind of e-reader integration across markets, instead of giving Amazon yet another tool in the box, however small, to keep hammering at B&N's market share.

Still, this could be good for Goodreads users.  Only time will tell.