| View Larger Image | Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder | Paperbackby Samuel W. Fussell (Author)
| List Price: | $13.99 | | Price: | $11.96 | | You Save: | $2.03 (15%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Harper Paperbacks | | Page Count: | 264 Pages | | Publication Date: | August 01, 1992 | | Sales Rank: | 130,628th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780380717637
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
At age 26, scrawny, Oxford-educated Samuel Fussell entered a YMCA gym in New York to escape the terrors of big city life.Four years and 80 lbs. of firm, bulging muscle later, he was competing for bodybuilding titles in the "Iron Mecca" of Southern California-so weak from intense training and starvation he could barely walk. MUSCLE is the harrowing, often hilarious chronicle of Fussell's divine obsession, his search for identity in a bizarre, eccentric world of "health fascists," "gym bunnies" and "muscleheads"-and his devout, single-minded acceptance of illness, pain, nausea, and steroid-induced rage in his quest for the holy grail of physical perfection. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 79 reviews)
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Muscle by Justin Justin  4 Stars
July 11, 2009
This book has always been a fun read for me. I've read it several times since I first purchased it five or six years ago. Now I'm buying it as gifts for friends.
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A peek into another culture by Pistol Pete (Houston, TX United States)  5 Stars
January 31, 2009
I did not seek this book out. A co-worker who was moving back to the US was giving away books and this was the last. I thought - why not take it off his hands? It proved to be a real gem.
The story: Princeton and Oxford educated Sam gets a job in NYC before he starts a graduate program at Yale. Unfortunately this is New York City in the early 1980s and it is a scary place. Not only that, but his parents have just divorced. Looking for some sanctuary, he enrolls at the YMCA gym to beef up. Being 6'4" and only 170 pounds, he has a lot of room for improvement.
He proceeds to be infected with what he calls "the disease". He eats, sleeps and breathes weightlifting. This book chronicles his adventure from start to finish. I would say "from the bottom to the very top" but that wouldn't be accurate. He is a gifted writer, as both his parents are English professors. The book reads very easily and will provide lots of great material to impress your friends.
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A walk on the juiced side by Roy Pickering (NJ)  3 Stars
January 13, 2009
This made for a very interesting read. The extremes that the author and other bodybuilders go through to reach their perceived version of physical perfection (e.g. - cutting calorie intake dramatically in the days leading up to a competition in order to achieve a shredded look to the point that even toothpaste is avoided) were compelling to learn about. The reader is given a glimpse into this familiar yet foreign world from someone unlikely to be there in the first place. I'm a physical fitness enthusiast myself and know people who have given competitive bodybuilding a shot, so the subject matter was intriguing to me. The motivation and mindset of people who willingly enter such a carnival type atmosphere is described in a manner and from a perspective that most others would be unable to provide, from the dual vantage point of an outsider looking in as well as an insider looking out. There is a certain fascination about people who are willing to treat their own bodies as a science experiment. Such experiments do not come without risk of course, so Muscle is basically the story of an accidental adventurer kind enough to take us along for a strange and wild ride while it lasted.
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Juiced up by U. Lakhani (North York Ontario) 5 Stars
September 14, 2008
I have read a lot of reviews on this book - mostly positive but one really negative. Yes the characters in the book do sound a little exaggerated and might not be real but let us put aside this complaint for a few seconds and focus on the book itself.
There is a semblance of truth in what Sam says about the bodybuilding environment in general. Being from one myself, I have seen people obsessed with the workout routines and the diet plans and the creatine supplementaion. None of the people in my environment used drugs and therefore I cannot honestly say that I have seen the kind of behaviour regarding steroids that Sam writes about.
As for the writing, it is magnificient. The book is extremely well written and the writing shows that Sam Fussell, in the end, chose a path that is more appropriate for a man of his talents.
This book should be read by all, if not for a peek into the world of bodybuilding then for the writing alone.
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Actually, this is a pretty accurate book about the obsessive weightlifting subculture ... by DACHokie (Blacksburg, VA) 5 Stars
July 02, 2008
I was an avid weightlifter in college and first read this book years after I graduated from college in 1989 and was more or less humored by its candor ... i classified it as entertaining.
Shortly after reading this book, I was invited to train with a powerlifting team and was seriously bitten by the weight-training bug to a point in which it became not only a huge part of my life, but, in part, defined who I am. Having competed as a nationally ranked powerlifter over the years (drug free) in addition to placing 1st and 2nd in two bodybuilding shows (also drug free) ... i re-read the book and looked at it in a totally different manner.
The second reading was a different experience for me because I felt I could relate to so many of the events and people mentioned in the book ... the people Fussell names in the book represent a microcosm of the obsessive weight-lifting/bodybuilding sub-culture that does truly exist. I have seen several people take their obsession with "being big" to include steroids and i've witnessed the obsessive-compulsive and destructive behavior of those who've traded in "normal" lives to pursue bodybuilding careers.
Although some of Fussell's storytelling may be embellished for entertainment purposes, I thoroughly felt that the basis for his book was in fact true ... many of us just don't want to believe that people can be as stupid and shallow as those Fussell tells us about ... but they are definitely out there ... in large numbers.
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