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 enlarge | Author: Joe Weider
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $4.41
You Save: $20.54 (82%)
New (19) Used (24) Collectible (2) from $4.41
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 178721
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 252
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1596701242
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.410922
EAN: 9781596701243
ASIN: 1596701242
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: In great shape, may have light wear.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-7 of 7 | | « PREV | | |
 An engaging memoir that deserves a wide audience October 14, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This engaging memoir deserves a wide audience. Anyone interested in bodybuilding, weightlifting, sports medicine, the history of the fitness movement, magazine publishing, marketing, motivational thought, Napoleonic history, or diplomacy will find this book worth reading. Schwarzenegger fans may learn a few new things about the Governator, who was Joe "Master Blaster" Weider's star protege in the early 70's and features prominently in the narrative.
Since the Weiders pretty much created modern bodybuilding (bodybuilding = improving the fitness, shape and size of your body through exercise), this is a must-read for anyone who is seriously interested in that subject. How the Wieders differentiated bodybuilding from weightlifting, and the running battle that weightlifting impresario Bob Hoffman fought against Joe Weider for decades, is one of the major narrative threads. Another is Ben Weider's quest to establish the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) worldwide, and have bodybuilding recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Building the Weider enterprise -- publishing, exercise equipment, food supplements and so forth is another thread that provides an interesting case study in entrepreneurship, with all the good luck, bad luck, shrewd decisions and blunders you would expect in a sixty year career.
On the motivational side, this memoir reminded me of a Somerset Maugham short story where a verger (lay minister) loses his job because of illiteracy, becomes a tobacco store magnate, and is asked by an astounded banker where he would be if he could read and write. He answers "I'd be verger of St. Peter's, Neville Square." Well, apparently Ben Weider would have been an RCMP officer (he was rejected because he was Jewish), and Joe Weider would have been a tradesman (he lacked the two years of high school the trade school required). These are honorable occupations, but the point is that for both men, as for Maugham's verger, what the world considered handicaps steered them to great success. I say "steered" because millions of people in similar situations do not achieve extraordinary things. The additional factor that propelled the Weiders was tireless dedication to goals they firmly believed would ultimately be achieved. However, I disagree with Joe Weider's taking his success as proof that individuals shape historical forces and not vice versa. If Joe had believed that unicycling was the key to worldwide health and fitness, I think things would have turned out quite differently, regardless of his dedication. Of course I could be wrong, and we might all be riding unicycles instead of working out.
Reading how Ben Weider managed to build the IFBB sports federation, established bodybuilding in communist countries, and eventually won provisional recognition for bodybuilding as an Olympic sport (it took 40 years) will give you better pointers on practical diplomacy then you will get by reading Sumner Welles and maybe even George Keenan. I normally don't think of bodybuilders as diplomats. I also don't think of them as historians, so I was surprised to learn that Ben Weider was largely responsible for proving the theory that Napoleon was poisoned -- this is now generally accepted as fact -- and was awarded the French Legion of Honor as a result.
Best book on bodybuilding ever September 29, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've been a collector of bodybuilding memorabilia
for 36 years. This is the Think and Grow Rich version
of bodybuilding. Great historical and motivational
information. The Weider brothers had guts and vision.
A must read for valuable bodybuilding and business
information.
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