The title of Tom Selleck’s memoir is ironic as we the audience feel like we know him. And while the moniker points more to luck and happenstance in an unexpected career, the content of the book supports the theory that he is who he is: an incredibly likable, trusting and trustworthy sort of person who also happens to be terribly good-looking.

YOU NEVER KNOW recounts Selleck’s 50 years in the business, a career that he calls unlikely. He was an accidental actor. His hometown was the hometown of the film industry. And while he was a student of business and a basketball player at USC (who spent more time on the bench than on the court), he had no dreams of entering the hometown business.

"Selleck’s story is as candid and accessible as the approachable guy you see on the screen. There’s no pretension --- just Selleck telling it like it is in his recognizable voice."

As luck would have it, Selleck went to a “Dating Game” audition. It was more of a ride-along with friends than a real interest in being on the program, and it turned out to be just the beginning. Soon he was a contract player, taking acting lessons with the likes of Sam Elliott (still a good friend to this day) and Lyle Waggoner, starring in commercials with Farrah Fawcett, and accompanying Mae West to glamorous Hollywood events. 

The rest, as they say, is history. His breakout role in “Magnum, P.I.” came at the same time as an offer from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to play Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When it became clear that he couldn’t do both, Magnum won out, and Selleck never regretted his choice.

If you’re hoping for reveals or slinging of dirt, look somewhere else. YOU NEVER KNOW is not a tell-all rife with rumor and innuendo. Yes, big names dot the pages: a friendship with Frank Sinatra that included the latter’s last television appearance on “Magnum, P.I.” and a closeness with Carol Burnett, who also shared the screen with Selleck twice. But names are divulged respectfully and in entertaining ways; there’s no mud or scandal.

YOU NEVER KNOW is focused mostly on the series that made Selleck a household name and heartthrob. Surprisingly, he wasn't even aware how big the show had become, sequestered as he was in Hawaii at a time when info didn’t travel as quickly as it does today. So it was only when he returned to the contiguous states that he realized he was now known to all. He fought, successfully some would say, to keep his private life private.

Selleck’s story is as candid and accessible as the approachable guy you see on the screen. There’s no pretension --- just Selleck telling it like it is in his recognizable voice.