Talk about leading a charmed life. I've had my own personal run-ins with a lot of celebs in random places over the years going all the way back to when I was still in elementary school. But hearing Rob's encounters are pretty mind blowing. He decides wants to become an actor and finds out that Liza Minnelli is in a hotel and all he has to do is ask the desk clerk "what room is Mrs. Minnelli staying in?" and next thing he knows he is eating chocolate candy with her. Or when he moves to Malibu and stumbles across a kid shooting his own war movie with friends, which turns out to be Chris Penn and invites him to pal around with Sean, Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Or when he writes a random letter to Aaron Spelling and gets invited to the studio. Or when Rob and his brother Chad are getting heckled at a Dodgers game for wearing a Yankees cap and are saved from a stranger who turns out to be a puppeteer for The Muppets and ends up meeting Jim Henson. Or how he is invited to The Tonigh Show and ends up meeting his future manager who in turn invites him to an SNL VIP party where in comes face to face with John Belushi. All of this happens before he even acts in one single movie. Sheesh!!

But if you ever want to say "blessed" when it comes to just being like "Forrest Gump" and running into moments that changed America (and the World for that matter) by way of movies, than nothing tops Rob's Aunt inviting him and Chad down to watch them shoot special FX footage for a little movie called Star Wars. Remember, Rob isn't even an actor in Hollywood yet, and here he is with all these amazing moments. Damn man! Quit hogging it all and spread the wealth around!! Sheesh!

His introduction to Martin Sheen was pretty damn funny. Hahaha.

But the biggest shock for me reading this book are not all the celeb run-ins. It's in how well the book is written. This isn't a knock against Rob himself. It's just that I went into this book with low expectations with the hopes it would have some entertaining moments. But having just read Stories I Only Tell My Friends, I came away with a better understanding of the man and how smart he really is. He never comes off as full of himself in the book like most people do when writing their memoirs. And with everything inside the book he has every right to brag..but he doesn't.

A lot of ground is covered on the pages, with the biggest chunk dedicated to The Outsiders. If I remember correctly, in all, 5 Chapters on nothing but said movie and I still wanted more. Everything from his humble beginnings to the debacle that was the Oscars with Snow White to his time on The West Wing is dissected. The one thing that I was curious about before reading, was if he would bring up the subject of his Sex Tape scandal that derailed his career for a short time. And just as I suspected, it only gets maybe half a page mention. That's it. And this is the only reason why I don't give the book a perfect score. There's more to the story and it will remain a mystery from here on out. It just feels incomplete by glossing over the subject matter.

Other than that little oversight, I totally recommend this book to anyone, fans and non-fans will enjoy this.. I know that I will reread this one again sooner, rather than later.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars out 5

You might dig this, Chip... Rob Lowe's Reddit AMA.  I can't help but hear his voice when I read his answers.