Customer Reviews

The Strongest Man in the World: Vasili Alexeyev

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THIS BOOK WAS ALL I HOPED IT WOULD BE , IT PORTAYS THE RISE TO WORLD CHAMPION OF ONE OF THE GREATEST LIFTERS IN HISTORY. THE BOOK STARTS BY GIVING SOME DETAILS OF ALEXEYEVS CHILDHOOD AND UPBRINGING THEN GOES STRAIGHT INTO HIS EARLY CONTESTS, THE AUTHOR A NOTED LIFTER HIMSELF REALLY SEEMS TO CAPTURE THE AUORA THAT SURROUNDED THE GREAT MAN IN HIS HEYDAY ,AND YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY OTHER GREAT COMPETETORS ALLWAYS SEEMED TO LIFT BELOW THEIR BEST WHEN UP AGAINST ALEXEYEV. THE BOOK PLOTS HIS CONTESTS UP TO THE TIME OF PUBLICATION AND HAS A VERY GOOD PHOTO SECTION AT THE BACK, ALL IN ALL THE BOOK IS ONE I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A WEIGHTLIFTER OR SPORTSMAN , EVEN THE FORWARD BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER IS INTERESTING READING, A THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE FACTUAL INSIGHT INTO A GREAT ATHLETES LIFE.

This is a very interesting book. It traces Alexyev's story from childhood through about 1977. It also briefly touches upon the careers of John Davis, Doug Hepburn, Norbert Schemansky, Paul Anderson, Alexis Medvedyev, Yuri Vlasov, and Leonid Zhabotinsky.It covers 1970-1977 fairly thoroughly, and even has a list of the world superheavyweight records from 1954-1977 for the press, snatch, clean and jerk,and total. It has approx. 45 black and white pictures in the back. The reasons I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 are these:1. It says nothing of the year 1978, when the world championships were Alexeyev's to take but he injured himself on the winning clean and jerk. 2. It says nothing of his year of rehab(1979). 3. It says nothing of his bombout, and end of his competitive career in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 4. It was written in Russian, and whomever translated it into English left it in a very stilted style. A good proofreader with a sensitivity for modern English would have been nice. 5. All of the pictures are in black and white and separated into one back section, instead of interspersed throughout the book, like we would do here in America.
All of this said this still is the best book I have ever found on Alexeyev! It is readable and tells alot of his meets attempt by attempt.