Review by Tester013 -- Beneath the Muscle by Lauren Powers
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Tester013
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Review by Tester013 -- Beneath the Muscle by Lauren Powers
[Following is a volunteer review of "Beneath the Muscle" by Lauren Powers.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Bullying and ridicule are concepts most of us are familiar with and the same can be said for Lauren Powers. In this autobiography and self-help book, Beneath the Muscle by Lauren Powers, the author discusses how she overcame bullying in her childhood and even a rather serious drug habit to become a champion bodybuilder.
Born on December 13, 1961, as Laurie D. MacDonald, Powers has always taken interest to somewhat unconventional hobbies, including skateboarding. Due to poor eyesight at birth, she was often ridiculed as being “four-eyes”, the additional pair being derived from a need to constantly wear glasses. Nevertheless, she never allowed external influences to affect her and continued to work hard. Though she encountered several setbacks, including becoming embroiled in the world of narcotics, she eventually righted herself, becoming a firefighter and, as we all know, bodybuilder.
I particularly enjoyed the plentiful illustrations in this book. At the risk of sounding controversial, Powers’ appearance would certainly strike a significant number of individuals as eccentric and different. Including pictures at every stage of her life not only allows us to see her transformation but more importantly, just how much hard work she had to put in to get to where she is today. Moreover, as of writing, it is nearing almost 6 decades since the author’s birth, yet she is still able to scrounge up significant snapshots of key moments of her life. To me, this represents a dedication to providing readers with an accurate impression of her and the fact that pictures can be so easily omitted without significant grounds of complaint make it all the more meaningful to me that they were included by Powers.
Nevertheless, despite her unique experiences, the method with which Powers recounted her life sounds very familiar. In fact, after several chapters, I felt that the book does lose its uniqueness as it reads all too similar to other self-help books. Right from the start, Powers writes about how she joined a team to skateboard simply because she enjoyed skateboarding and if she were to do it, it would have to be with a team. While such an approach has worked for her, I can’t help but feel that this book suffers from the same pitfalls that books of a similar genre do and pays no mind to individuals who may not be as extroverted as Powers is.
Overall though, as less of a type-A individual that Powers is, the content as described within this book may not be particularly applicable to me, but from an objective viewpoint, this book would be very helpful to extroverted individuals that find themselves in a situation similar to that of Powers’. As such, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, subtracting a star as I felt that the book didn’t do that much to differentiate itself from other self-help books in terms of tone. Despite her past, I found no issue with any profanities or sexual content in this book and find it to be rather well-edited. As for recommendations, I feel that almost anyone can read this book, though introverted individuals who may not have a “just do it” mentality may benefit significantly less than those who are similar to Powers in terms of their personalities.
******
Beneath the Muscle
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
3 out of 4 stars
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Bullying and ridicule are concepts most of us are familiar with and the same can be said for Lauren Powers. In this autobiography and self-help book, Beneath the Muscle by Lauren Powers, the author discusses how she overcame bullying in her childhood and even a rather serious drug habit to become a champion bodybuilder.
Born on December 13, 1961, as Laurie D. MacDonald, Powers has always taken interest to somewhat unconventional hobbies, including skateboarding. Due to poor eyesight at birth, she was often ridiculed as being “four-eyes”, the additional pair being derived from a need to constantly wear glasses. Nevertheless, she never allowed external influences to affect her and continued to work hard. Though she encountered several setbacks, including becoming embroiled in the world of narcotics, she eventually righted herself, becoming a firefighter and, as we all know, bodybuilder.
I particularly enjoyed the plentiful illustrations in this book. At the risk of sounding controversial, Powers’ appearance would certainly strike a significant number of individuals as eccentric and different. Including pictures at every stage of her life not only allows us to see her transformation but more importantly, just how much hard work she had to put in to get to where she is today. Moreover, as of writing, it is nearing almost 6 decades since the author’s birth, yet she is still able to scrounge up significant snapshots of key moments of her life. To me, this represents a dedication to providing readers with an accurate impression of her and the fact that pictures can be so easily omitted without significant grounds of complaint make it all the more meaningful to me that they were included by Powers.
Nevertheless, despite her unique experiences, the method with which Powers recounted her life sounds very familiar. In fact, after several chapters, I felt that the book does lose its uniqueness as it reads all too similar to other self-help books. Right from the start, Powers writes about how she joined a team to skateboard simply because she enjoyed skateboarding and if she were to do it, it would have to be with a team. While such an approach has worked for her, I can’t help but feel that this book suffers from the same pitfalls that books of a similar genre do and pays no mind to individuals who may not be as extroverted as Powers is.
Overall though, as less of a type-A individual that Powers is, the content as described within this book may not be particularly applicable to me, but from an objective viewpoint, this book would be very helpful to extroverted individuals that find themselves in a situation similar to that of Powers’. As such, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, subtracting a star as I felt that the book didn’t do that much to differentiate itself from other self-help books in terms of tone. Despite her past, I found no issue with any profanities or sexual content in this book and find it to be rather well-edited. As for recommendations, I feel that almost anyone can read this book, though introverted individuals who may not have a “just do it” mentality may benefit significantly less than those who are similar to Powers in terms of their personalities.
******
Beneath the Muscle
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Killing Abel by Michael Tieman
