| Arnold Schwarzenegger Book:
Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Book
Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger |  |  | | List Price: $7.99 | | Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Salesrank: 486977
Released: May 30, 2006 | | Our Price: $2.97 | | Used Price: $1.82 | | | Media: Mass Market Paperback | |
Editorial Review:
He has been known as the Austrian Oak, Mr. Universe, and the Terminator. Now he answers to “Governor.” From humble beginnings in a small Austrian village, Arnold Schwarzenegger pumped himself into the greatest bodybuilder in history, the biggest movie star in the world, and a political force to be reckoned with—all with raw ambition and driving self-confidence. In Fantastic, esteemed biographer Laurence Leamer captures Arnold’s amazing story as no one else could. Drawing on unprecedented interviews with Arnold, his wife Maria Shriver, and Arnold’s friends, family, lovers, competitors, business partners, and political adversaries, Leamer offers a brilliant, uniquely detailed portrait of this self-made man who married a Kennedy princess and scaled the heights of America’s elite. Readers will discover:
· A troubled youth: growing up the son of a strict former Nazi and overcoming adversity by discovering the potential of weight training
· The superhuman: the arrogant showman who revolutionized bodybuilding—and his astounding string of Mr. Olympia titles
· Blockbuster stardom: why a heavy accent and wooden acting style couldn’t keep Arnold and his publicist from marketing him into the world’s largest grossing film icon
· The unlikeliest Kennedy: his marriage to Maria Shriver and her role in Arnold’s rise to governor of the Golden State
...and more!
Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger Reviews:
A good book with some noteworthy flaws -- like its subject 
2009-11-16 - Readable and well-researched, "Fantastic" takes a largely positive view of Schwarzenegger as an essentially good but demonically, narcissistically driven man.
Others have written more thorough reviews and I will not attempt to write a full one here. Instead, I'll point to three things that bothered me about the book, none of which should keep you from reading it.
First, the author too often epxresses an entirely gratuitous political opinion. His description of economist Arthur Laffer is one example. (Laffer comes into play late in the book, as one of dozens of economists and others whom Arnold consulted during his gubernatorial campaign in 2003.) The author first describes the "Laffer Curve" in a rather silly, perhaps disingenuous way. Laffer's main point was that cutting high marginal tax rates -- when one began with the high tax rates inherited by Reagan in 1981, at least -- results in collecting MORE revenue, because you removed disincentives to working harder. Instead, the author of this book states that the point of the Curve was to suggest that too-high tax rates make people stop working. That does happen too, but such wasn't the contextual point of the Curve. More importantly, even if the description WERE accurate, it's a silly inclusion in a book about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Second, the chapter devoted to Arnold's campaign "Brain Trust" is disproportionatly given over to a narrative by the author's brother, a UCLA economist who was one of the aforementioned dozens of folks consulted by the Arnold team. The brother, although ostensibly a Republican, pooh-poohed any conservatives who dared to defend Prop 13 (a limit on property- and other tax increases). "Stuff My Brother Told Me About The Dumb Conservatives And How They Were Mean To That Smart Warren Buffett" might have been a better title for that out-of-place chapter.
My third critique is one I admit to be unfair: The book came out just before Arnold's slate of big reform measures got clobbered at the ballot box in 2005. This is no one's fault; it's an accident of timing. But having enjoyed this book 85% of the way, I crave one more chapter dealing with this defeat (which I find unfortunate) and Arnold's remarkable leftward dash thereafter (ditto).
Arnolds book 
2007-12-06 - Arnold is without doubt one of the most influential human beings of the 21st century. Fantastic gives us a glimpse into the life of the man who on the face of things looks invincible. The book (and I pray it doesnt make things up) also gives readers a glimpse into arnolds kinder side. The oak has a heart.
boyfriend loves it
2007-03-20 - my boyfriend is a huge arnold fan so he loves this book that i bought for him
a very good book
2007-02-06 - this book is an objective and complete biography of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
it tells the rise to fame and power from his childhood to his first year of governorship. After reading it, one must observe that succes in life depends not on luck, as many believe so, but on discipline, wilful ambition,drive and
positive thinking followed by action.
i recommend this book not only for arnold fans (it should be mandatory for them :) ) but to anyone who wants to get an insight into one of the most extraordinary success stories of our times
Please excuse any language mistakes, i`m not a native english speaker
A Real Page-Turner
2007-01-10 - Larry Leamer's 'Fantastic' is fantastic. I couldn't put it down. It is amazing to learn that one human being, Arnold Schwarzenegger, built such an amazing life. Leamer catalogues this life in a readable, entertaining, objective way. If anyone wants to know what makes Arnold tick, this book will tell him.
Marc H. Rudov
Author
The Man's No-Nonsense Guide to Women
(ISBN: 978-0974501710)
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