Customer Reviews

Mr. T: The Man With the Gold : An Autobiography of Mr. T

5 star:		(2)
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This book came out when I was 22 years old - inexperienced, confused, frightened by life. I bought this book in the grocery store on a lark. It was the best book that could have possible fallen into my hands. The author is a very strong man who has conquered great adversity in his life. It's not the greatest book ever written, but it's one of my favorites. It was written with great conviction and sincerity.

It's not boring, either. T's adventures are worth reading for their entertainment value alone. Mr. T claims he didn't use a ghost writer, and I believe him (although my dad thinks I'm nuts). Anyone who thinks Mr. T is a joke and simply a pop phenomenon should read this book and learn what strength, determination, and a belief in oneself can accomplish.

I have been a huge Mr. T fan ever since the A Team, and I have continued to follow his career ever since. His book not only is a surprise in terms of its literary merit, but it's an inspiration. Mr. T came from nothing, to turn himself into one of the finest American actors, and a beloved personality. My only lament is that the book is not more widely read, because, as an autobiography, it ranks with THEY CALL ME ASSASSIN by Jack Tatum, ME by Katherine Hepburn, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar's GIANT STEPS. In fact, it's better. Mr. T has a better sense of rhythm to his language; he's more psychologically insightful; and he has a voice as strong as any in modern fiction--like a cross between Bellow's Augie March and Joe Frazier. I have read the book several times, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a true story, well told.

This book makes for good reading. It takes Mr. Laurence Tero from his days in the Chicago ghetto to bodyguarding the heavyweight CHUMP Leon Spinks and to his rise to fame. Very entertainming and occasionally inspiring. Occasional stories (such as the tale of his brothers tracking down a man who commmitted a crime against their mother) read like streetcorner tall tales. His stories of the chump/champ Leon Spinks (the Mike Tyson of the seventies) are downright hilarious if not flattering at all to Spinks. But his Bill Cosby-type sermon to ghetto youth at the end of this book will make you wanna give an A-MEN and make you wanna put some cash in the collection plate, which makes you feel good about buying this book.

Since Mr. T. has been consistant about practicing the message that he preaches in this book, you feel good about reading it.

I read one review, talking about him being a bouncer, and taking peoples chains as he threw them out. I found that no where in the book. The book told how he grew up, and why he is the way he is. He also talked a lot about Leon Sphinx. He was his body gaurd for a while. All in all it is a good book, if you are interested in the Life of Mr.T up to 1984.