Total Recall

My Unbelievably True Life Story

By: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Narrated by: Stephen Lang, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Length: 23 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the most anticipated autobiographies of this generation, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall is the candid story of one of the world's most remarkable actors, businessmen, and world leaders.

Born in the small city of Thal, Austria, in 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to Los Angeles at the age of 21. Within 10 years, he was a millionaire businessman. After 20 years, he was the world's biggest movie star. In 2003, he was elected governor of California and became a household name around the world.

Chronicling his embodiment of the American Dream, Total Recall covers Schwarzenegger's high-stakes journey to the United States, from creating the international bodybuilding industry out of the sands of Venice Beach, to breathing life into cinema's most iconic characters, and becoming one of the leading political figures of our time. Proud of his accomplishments and honest about his regrets, Schwarzenegger spares nothing in sharing his amazing story.

©2012 Fitness Publications, Inc (P)2012 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

An Incredible Journey…But A Little Preachy

Arnold has had an incredible life. The book is over 20 hours long but you never get tired of hearing is story. His journey from very very humble beginnings in Austria, to his successes in competitive body building, to his lucrative real estate development (yeah, you read that right), to his film accomplishments, marrying into the American Royal Family, and then all the way to the Governor’s Mansion is a success story like no other. He was a multimillionaire real estate mogul before he ever set foot into Hollywood. And he brought the sport of bodybuilding into the mainstream. His story is undoubtedly inspiring and makes you feel like you can accomplish anything if you work hard enough (you can almost hear the Rocky theme song playing in your head). Although, you may come away from the read with a feeling that he maintains a bit of a superior attitude that Americans are lazy and misguided and if a poor refugee from Austria can build an empire from nothing, all Americans should be doing it. The condescending undertones aside, it is overall a real feel good book that has you cheering “Ahnald” on the whole time.

One word - inspiring

Having had a certain opinion of Arnold before I listened to this book, I can say that it changed completely. As a fellow European (German) living in the US, I can relate to at least some of the earlier days in Arnold’s life. While I am not a bodybuilder, movie star, or politician, I feel that this book shows that there is no single path to success. Arnold shows that you can achieve almost anything with discipline and hard work. If you thought that Arnold is just a lucky bodybuilder who achieves things because of his fame, you might want to hear his story.

Great read...

From the bottom to the top. Great read. Great performance. Made me like Arnold even more. Great read by Lang.

Great story

I enjoyed listening to this. Arnold’s story is a good one as is all the things he has been able to accomplish. It is true that he only narrates the first and last chapter which probably would be my biggest complaint. A persons story is always best told by that person. Though the other narrator does a good job it does take something away from the story as a whole. It’s nice hearing about people making the American Dream a reality.

Must read

I Learned a lot and probably will re-read. Good prospective on politics as well.

Overachiever Arnold!

Arnold is such an interesting man, and so accomplished! He did everything he set out to do and more. It's all detailed in the book, including the affair with his maid.

Being in the fitness business and a former competitor myself, I have always loved the bodybuilder Arnold. That part of the book was very interesting to me, as well as hearing about how he got into the movie industry. The part I found myself skipping through was when he started his political career, which I found boring but if you like politics I guess it could be interesting.

This book has it all - from his life in Austria through his bodybuilding career, movie career, business career, political career and his personal life. I really enjoyed it except that I thought he was going to narrate the entire book. He only narrates the first and last chapters, which was disappointing. Other than that I really enjoyed it.

Very inspirational

A story of a man from small village to world champ in bodybuilding, great businessman, actor and governor of a California.

Impulse read- proved great

I didn’t expect to find this book interesting, but it was on sale and all the reviews about how Unexpectedly great it is made me give it a try. It’s super long, but i went through it really fast. I have a new respect and am in awe of how Schwarzenegger came to be who he is. Would recommend to anyone looking to see what it means to be completely self motivated and focused on realizing your (big) dreams.

A true inspirational life story

As a child I grew up watching reruns of movies from all sorts of genres but what stuck with me was any movie that stared Arnold Schwarzenegger. A tall strong man who looked and sounded different from everyone around him. I was always amazed by Arnold and did my own research around his life. I was inspired by Pumping iron, a documentary about his time as the greatest bodybuilder. That documentary kept me motivated to workout. Once I found out a book about him was made I had to read it.

Audible does a amazing job with telling the true story and makes the experience pleasant. I also love the feature of how you can change the speed. The only negative thing about it is the pictures in the book. There are pictures in the physical book that are not said by the audio so people who only listen are missing out on the pictures. But if you don’t care about pictures that could be found online then this audiobook is a 11/10.

Absolutely a blockbuster biography!!

I couldn’t get enough. I would have loved Arnold read more, but it was still a fantastic book. Arnold is a true American hero! The things he overcame to achieve levels of success very very few ever have, is remarkable. No one is perfect and even in his failures he pushes through. Highly recommend this book!