Muscle : Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder

Rating:
Summary: A look at bodybuilding from inside the "fringe"
Review: Bodybuilding for the wrong reasons, that's what this book portrays.
Starting as a tall skinny young man, the author searches for some sort of "armor" with which to protect himself from the horrors of everyday life. He is afraid of pretty much everything and, therefore, he throws himself into bodybuilding to give himself an exterior that will intimidate those he fears.
However, as with many addictive personalities, he goes much further than a rational man would. Losing his job, moving to So Cal, bunking with other hard-core BB'rs, living of large doses of pharmaceuticals and copious amounts of food. Becoming one of 'those guys' that lives to lift and has no real job and no real life.

Having been in bodybuilding on and off for over 25 years, I found many humorous passages and descriptions in the book, as well as many scary revelations. This is definitely a book about the dark side of BB'ing and not the norm for the majority of Gym goers.
Both funny and sad, it fell short of my expectations. I really think that you would need to be a hard-core lifter like myself to get a lot of the nuances and anecdotes in the book.
Fortunately, most of us are able to juggle family, work, AND the gym.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and Tragic at the same time.
Review: Samuel Fussell lived in NY and so happened to run across a book about Arnold and bodybuilding. Fussell prematurely assumed that bodybuilding would be the answer to his insecurities and problems. Therefore, he joined the YMCA and started learning about training as a bodybuilder. He became so encaptured by it that he decided to move to Bodybuilding's Mecca, Southern California, to make his way as a competitive bodybuilder. He joins a gym there and befriends other bodybuilders who help him along and give him pointers etc. as Fussell continues his relentless training. There are funny episodes of his friends in this book and also Fussell himself. However, other instances in the book show more of a grim side of bodybuilding as Fussell's butt aches from steroid injections and he becomes so obsessive-compulsive that he almost nonstop thinks about and pursues bodybuilding to the exclusion of everything else. He ends up competing in some contests (altho I won't say how he placed) but the preparation for the contests turned out to be too taxing for him. The extreme dieting and rigors of trying to uphold an ideal of perfection led him to give it all up. He came full circle to realize bodybuilding wouldn't solve all his problems and that he still felt empty inside despite however big a suit of armor he wore. I found this part tragic as bodybuilding is such a great avenue for people to better themselves and build up self-esteem and confidence. Unfortunately, if you get involved for the wrong reasons as with anything else it can become a mere masking point for much more serious and deep-held issues of inadequacy. A good book that I think everyone can find merit in.