Bodybuilders, Drugs & Sex [Paperback]

Thomas Minichiello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

After becoming a champion athlete in Europe, Roberto Visconti comes to America and in a few short years is the number one Bodybuilder.

His ambition now is to become a movie star. He has learned early in his quest that all his assignations with wealthy influential business men would be of enormous help.

Years later, after his success in the movie industry, he now sets a new course----he will enter the world of politics.

Bodybuilders,Drugs & Sex is by no means a literary work. Although listed as a novel, it is based on the truth from my many years of experience in the gym business.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An unparalleled novel projecting the modern bodybuilding scene, the false heros, the scams, the drugs". -- Vic Boff...Author...Physically Perfedt-Powerfully Strong

The book tells of how some bodybuilders made money to support their drug habit when they had no visible job. -- The Iron Master...12-99 #28

There's a collection of photographs in the book and that makes it all the more intriguing for bodybuilding buffs. -- Iron Man magazine-11-30-00

From the Author

This book is not a literary read. It is a story based on actual events. It shows what a young athlete did to reach the American Dream....was it worth it?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Mid City Press (August 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0967417406
• ISBN-13: 978-0967417400
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,552,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, July 12, 2005

By 

M. Gaggero (Genova, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Bodybuilders, Drugs & Sex (Paperback)

Everybody who has ever used a gym should read this book.
This is the story of the bodybuilding and fitness industry, and the people involved, of the last 30 years, written as a work of fiction. For some this story can be disgusting, for others just controversial, but the author's inside view is very detailed. He gives hints at almost every important people in bodybuilding in the last 30 years. Minichiello knows what is all about, and he spares no words to condemn the tremendous greed of the people involved and the related use of steroids. The use of weights to stay healthy has turned out to become a dangerous competition for money and power.
Many young people, trying to emulate the champions they see in the magazines, use steroids and other drugs and seriously endanger their health, if not their lives.
Some people reading this book are not going to believe it, because they love the fairy tale of the poor country boy who come from Europe and become the great, famous, rich champion, who earnd his money with his smile, his drug-free bodybuilding and his movies. Wake up, my friends: the reality is much more hard to endure: your champion is a drug users, male prostitute, and greedy competitor for which any means will do to reach his goals. Enjoy it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, January 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bodybuilders, Drugs & Sex (Paperback)

This story of bodybuilding was an interesting, delightful read. I recommend it to anyone interested in the bodybulding world, or about Arnold.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lousy writing, interesting story, March 8, 2007

By 

David B "all around consumer" (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bodybuilders, Drugs & Sex (Paperback)

Yes, the quality of writing for this novel is very, very poor and it bears mentioning at the outset. The story is itself interesting for anyone involved in the sport of male bodybuilding, or an admirer of the sport. Hiring an English lit. student to do some copy-editing would have been an easily accessible, wise and cost-effective investment on the part of the author and it is very odd that he did not think to do this seeing that he self-published the book.

The story is interesting and deals with many familiar people in the bodybuilding world, including a character who one can imagine is the current governor of California. This character used his appearance, which was built on the copious use of illegal steroids, to prostitute himself to wealthy businessmen who not only gave him money but also advice on the business world. I had also heard stories similar to this on the grapevine over the years. Do rumours validate rumours? Perhaps not, but I, David B "all around consumer", sense there is a shred of truth here.

As one can imagine parallels between the main character and a very popular Republican politician in California, the book becomes fascinating reading. So interesting in fact that you can almost forgive the lousy writing, but actually you can't, because the writing is perhaps the worst I have ever seen published in print.

If the book were to be re-released and with the benefit of a good copywriter, Minichiello would have a far more successful book, but would probably may be at risk in some way for surreptitously 'outing' a popular Republican politician. Because in all reality, you cannot grow a huge, extremely muscular, competition level body like Mr.Universe or Mr.Olympia, without using illegal and expensive steroids. This would cost lots of money ($hundreds to $thousands or so+ per month) and where would a young immigrant without any professional training get such resources and more to invest in real estate? Certainly not by working in a gym.

A fascinating read for anyone interested in the bodybuilding world, the entertainment industry and California politics.