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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
A 3.5. until the last tenements, this book was a 4 star. not expertly written, but reflective of his voice and mentality. It was a motivating book and optimistic.
Love him or hate him (and I'm honestly not sure how somebody could hate him), one thing is undeniable -- Arnold Schwarzenegger has lived one hell of a life. Achieving just one of his accomplishments -- bodybuilding champion, highest-paid action movie star in Hollywood, a successful businessman who made his first million off real estate investments, Austrian immigrant turned governor of California, environmental activist -- would be enough for most normal folks, but for Schwarzenegger, each have been stepping stones built atop one another to create a true and remarkable once in a lifetime success story.
Schwarzenegger's story, narrated by Stephen Lang (Arnold only narrates the first and final chapters, but Lang does a fantastic job tackling the majority of the book), is awe-inspiring and motivational. Although it's hardly a self-help book, there is certainly plenty of inspiration to be found over the course of these 23+ hours. For his part, Schwarzenegger is open and honest in his recollections, if a bit guarded, noting a few times that he relies on secrecy, denial, and deflection to keep himself going. If you're looking for all the juicy details about his illicit affair with a housekeeper that produced a child out of wedlock while he was with Maria Shriver, you won't get those here, and you'll likely be disappointed, too, by his lack of self-reflection when it comes to having other affairs, such as his liaisons with Brigitte Nielsen during the filming of Red Sonja, shortly after he began a relationship with Shriver. He chalks such decisions up to little more than sheer stupidity, which...yeah, true enough, but that's about as deep as those reflecting pools get here. Still, he does discuss his foibles and failures, many of which are self-inflicted thanks to various transgressions or occasionally letting his big mouth get the better of his good sense. It's enough to prevent this from becoming a hagiography, but not so much that every bit of dirty laundry gets aired here for the indulgence of gossip hounds. It's his multitude of successes that are the real story and why we're here. And good lord, are there ever a lot of wild victories on Schwarzenegger's end, with the actor constantly and consistently defying the odds at each and every turn.
For the political wonks, Total Recall charts an intriguing look at the Republican Party through Schwarzenegger's moderate eyes. It's interesting to note how rapidly his party has devolved and how quickly it has slid into outright fascism in the intervening years since Schwarzenegger came to America and decided, based on the debates between Nixon and Humphrey, that he was a Republican. Schwarzenegger, in his own political career, embraced the environmental conservatism of prior Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, launching campaigns as California governor to embrace renewable energy and his Million Solar Roofs initiative. And he certainly recognized the writing that was on the devolving wall with John McCain's selection of dingbat Sarah Palin as a running mate in the 2008 election when he opted to skip the Republican Convention. Although a card-carrying Republican, his centrist positions, environmentalism, and, later, his anti-fascist Instagram videos are the sort of stuff that current-day red-meat Republicans decry as being "woke" or part of the "liberal agenda," which really tells you everything you need to know about modern-day Republicanism. Written in 2012, his acknowledgement of Trump's success as a businessman and television star, certainly feels awfully dated in this post-insurrection, post-stolen classified documents, post-failed single term presidency, but thankfully that minor footnote is a fairly light transgression.
What's most impressive, and empowering, is the overarching message that if an Austrian farmboy who came from nothing can rise to such great heights, then so can you -- at least in moderation. It's unlikely we'll find ourselves making millions and marrying into the Kennedy clan, but we should at least be able to achieve less loftier ambitions with a bit of willpower, dedication, and maybe even a bit of muscle.
Schwarzenegger's story, narrated by Stephen Lang (Arnold only narrates the first and final chapters, but Lang does a fantastic job tackling the majority of the book), is awe-inspiring and motivational. Although it's hardly a self-help book, there is certainly plenty of inspiration to be found over the course of these 23+ hours. For his part, Schwarzenegger is open and honest in his recollections, if a bit guarded, noting a few times that he relies on secrecy, denial, and deflection to keep himself going. If you're looking for all the juicy details about his illicit affair with a housekeeper that produced a child out of wedlock while he was with Maria Shriver, you won't get those here, and you'll likely be disappointed, too, by his lack of self-reflection when it comes to having other affairs, such as his liaisons with Brigitte Nielsen during the filming of Red Sonja, shortly after he began a relationship with Shriver. He chalks such decisions up to little more than sheer stupidity, which...yeah, true enough, but that's about as deep as those reflecting pools get here. Still, he does discuss his foibles and failures, many of which are self-inflicted thanks to various transgressions or occasionally letting his big mouth get the better of his good sense. It's enough to prevent this from becoming a hagiography, but not so much that every bit of dirty laundry gets aired here for the indulgence of gossip hounds. It's his multitude of successes that are the real story and why we're here. And good lord, are there ever a lot of wild victories on Schwarzenegger's end, with the actor constantly and consistently defying the odds at each and every turn.
For the political wonks, Total Recall charts an intriguing look at the Republican Party through Schwarzenegger's moderate eyes. It's interesting to note how rapidly his party has devolved and how quickly it has slid into outright fascism in the intervening years since Schwarzenegger came to America and decided, based on the debates between Nixon and Humphrey, that he was a Republican. Schwarzenegger, in his own political career, embraced the environmental conservatism of prior Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, launching campaigns as California governor to embrace renewable energy and his Million Solar Roofs initiative. And he certainly recognized the writing that was on the devolving wall with John McCain's selection of dingbat Sarah Palin as a running mate in the 2008 election when he opted to skip the Republican Convention. Although a card-carrying Republican, his centrist positions, environmentalism, and, later, his anti-fascist Instagram videos are the sort of stuff that current-day red-meat Republicans decry as being "woke" or part of the "liberal agenda," which really tells you everything you need to know about modern-day Republicanism. Written in 2012, his acknowledgement of Trump's success as a businessman and television star, certainly feels awfully dated in this post-insurrection, post-stolen classified documents, post-failed single term presidency, but thankfully that minor footnote is a fairly light transgression.
What's most impressive, and empowering, is the overarching message that if an Austrian farmboy who came from nothing can rise to such great heights, then so can you -- at least in moderation. It's unlikely we'll find ourselves making millions and marrying into the Kennedy clan, but we should at least be able to achieve less loftier ambitions with a bit of willpower, dedication, and maybe even a bit of muscle.
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I expected a different book and was looking forward to a lot of behind the scenes information about the movies Arnold played in. However, his movie work hardly gets any attention. Often it’s nothing more than: “and that year we shot this movie, and then that one”. Whereas the book spends a lot of time on the early stages of his career in bodybuilding, and on the later stages of his life when he got into politics. These times may be very interesting for himself, but I didn’t find much value in those chapters.
The book feels unbalanced and was maybe ghostwritten by someone who didn’t get much room to direct the conversation to the most visible aspect of Arnold’s public life, which is his movie work. I assume the book was written on the basis of a number of interviews, and those conversations were clearly heavily influenced by Arnold’s own interests. It often remains superficial and self-congratulatory and glosses over the most interesting parts of his life (the ones where he messes up). I guess Arnold doesn’t want to dwell upon those moments “because I’m an optimistic man”. But it’s in moments of conflict and failure that great lessons can be learned. Lessons that this book unfortunately lacks…
The book feels unbalanced and was maybe ghostwritten by someone who didn’t get much room to direct the conversation to the most visible aspect of Arnold’s public life, which is his movie work. I assume the book was written on the basis of a number of interviews, and those conversations were clearly heavily influenced by Arnold’s own interests. It often remains superficial and self-congratulatory and glosses over the most interesting parts of his life (the ones where he messes up). I guess Arnold doesn’t want to dwell upon those moments “because I’m an optimistic man”. But it’s in moments of conflict and failure that great lessons can be learned. Lessons that this book unfortunately lacks…
informative
medium-paced
Extremely poorly written (he clearly wrote it himself) but fascinating none the less.