Nimoy stated that the title originated from an incident in an airport where a mother introduced him to her daughter as Spock.

The child was not convinced, and "I am not Spock" subsequently became the title for a chapter in the autobiography that discussed how he went about building the character.

[2] The chapter title became the book title, which Nimoy later called "a big mistake" as he felt that people assumed that it was an attack on the character and Star Trek in general, but did not read the book to find out what was really meant.

[7] Nimoy recalled that the fan reaction to the memoir was publicized as being negative and created an assumption that he was no longer interested in playing Spock.

[8] In 2002, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Brent Spiner joked that his autobiography would be entitled I Am Not Spock, Either.