Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris

You notice the cover right away because you admire the actor Neil Patrick Harris. Ah, the esteemed star of the Harold and Kumar movies and How I Met Your Mother, as well as, you're told, some doctor show in the early 90s, has written a book about himself. The cover has a design that looks familiar. Oh Choose Your Own Autobiography, based on the concept of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, you loved those! Now with your interest piqued, you open the cover and start reading.

What an unique concept for structuring an autobiography! You are told you will assume the role of Neil Patrick Harris, and choose a path through his life with a series of options at the end of each short chapter. You soon discover that while most of the chapters are true stories, some of them quickly turn into deathly situations similar to those in the childrens' books.

You have to admit that reading about someone else's life in the second person present tense takes some getting used to, especially when the book tells you that you're a proud gay man with a husband and two children. You are decidedly not a gay man, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Occasionally the book's choices direct you to magic tricks to follow along with, or drink recipes to imbibe. There is always the worry in the back of your mind that you might miss an important detail about Harris's life or one of the hilarious asides, so you always keep one finger or bookmark at the last page you left so you can read the path you didn't take the first time. Huh, that's probably exactly the effect that the author intended.

You greatly enjoy this book and you make sure to type out a post on your blog to tell everyone that it's well worth their time.

You can find the website for the book at nphbook.com, or follow Harris on Twitter @actuallyNPH.