Total Recall: My Unbelievable True Life Story
I read the book recently. Then I spent forever (aka 30 minutes) trying to find actual reviews of the book on Reddit.
Full disclosure, I look up to Arnold Schwarzenegger a lot. He is the embodiment of the American Dream. Even if he is in denial about his dad being a Nazi IMO (please don’t sue me Mr Schwarzenegger). Also, I probably like him a lot because he’s Austrian. Even if he is from a completely different part then my family and my grandmother said he has a “poor” accent.
The book was great for the first third/ half. After that the book was good, but it felt rushed. Honestly, the book should have been twice as long, minimum. I hate feeling rushed when I read a book.
The biggest disappointment was that he didn’t write about winning Mr Olympia a 7th time after his 4 year break outside of just an aside. He mentioned slightly he regretted it, but never expanded on WHY. There are a ton of videos and blogs about how the event, but I read the autobiography to hear his thoughts. To your left you will see a picture from notorious 1980’s Mr Olympia from Frank Zane’s website.
Another gripe was how it became obvious about halfway through that he was trying to frame things to get his ex-wife back.
Now it’s time for things I liked about the book:
I enjoyed his stories about growing up and the start of his body building career. It felt inspiring. And the anecdotes were great. He’s a funny guy for sure. His posters of men on his bedroom wall growing up were the best. Same with getting caught in a tent by his mom.
The way he kept a lot of his friends from Austria and his early body building days was touching. I know guys don’t use the word “bestie,” but him and Franco Columbo were definitely besties. Maybe its the girl in me, but I love friendship stories. Especially partners in crime stories. That’s probably why I think Jennifer’s Body is such a great movie. Just two friends causing a ruckus.
A photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu posing on the beach.
Him writing about filming the first Conan was also great. I just spent nearly 45 minutes trying to find the name of the Conan Superfan that lived in the mountains who was a trainer for the movie. The guy, according to the book, was even in the movie, but I can’t find it online. I couldn’t find any reference to it online even. If anyone cares its on page 257 of the autobiography, the last paragraph of the chapter “Dream Girl.” I wish he had written way more abut the guy who lives in the mountains and skis with shorts on and calls himself “Conan.”
He was for sure number one “Fitness Czar.” I have a lot of good personal opinions on that. Probably biased by me being a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger fan. Glad he wrote quite a bit about that.
Not sure if I’ll do any more book reviews, but this is my personal blog and I just really want someone to talk to about books I like. I know this has nothing to do with the ITAI brand, but I’ll do me.
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