Don't Hassel the Hoff: The Autobiography

At first, this autobiography's sometimes hokey, over-detailed style seems the right fit for the larger-than-life actor-singer-international star best known for lead roles on television shows Knight Rider and Baywatch. Before long, however, the self-satisfied celeb's voice proves about as engaging as his little-watched prime-time spinoff, Baywatch Nights. Hasselhoff's narrative is heavy on unhelpful description (for those who missed it, he recaps the death of Princess Diana) and plodding anecdotes (after one story, he muses unconvincingly, ""It had been a very surreal experience""). One can forgive Hasselhoff (though perhaps not his editor) for being a less-than-stellar writer, but what makes this book such a slog is Hasselhoff's unrelenting ego, a wholly unflattering characteristic that pervades the narrative. Among overlong tales of his professional projects, Hasselhoff credits himself with changing the lives of thousands of terminally-ill children; inspiring Sammy Davis Jr., Paul McCartney, Liberace and Mel Brooks; preventing a girl from committing suicide by saying ""hello"" to her in an elevator; and much more. Though he swallows some humble pie when relating his struggle with alcoholism at Betty Ford, it does little to redeem him. Anyone who'd like to hold onto their fond feelings toward the Hoff should avoid his autobiography; it's a telling document, but for reasons its author probably didn't intend.