A second look at Dr. Scally’s book
Yesterday’s book review was something I don’t usually do…it smacked of the kind of fish-in-a-barrel book review that I don’t particularly like reading, because it focused on one thing (the actual writing) instead of another (the content). Last night, Jerry Brainium of Iron Man Magazine asked me if the book had any value at all, in spite of being a nightmare of prose. In truth, my own first book wasn’t a masterpiece either…
With that in mind, I’m going to attempt to give a more substantive review of the book.
Chapter one is an overview of testosterone, and chapter two is an overview of the HPTA. Both chapters are fairly standard, and reading them would be a reasonable place to start for anyone wanting to learn the basics about their hormonal system (and I’m talking about men here, because the book focuses exclusively on males). Chapter three is about anabolic steroid induced hypogonadism (ASIH), and this chapter basically establishes the idea that when you stop using steroids, your body becomes hypogonadal (it no longer produces its own testosterone for a period of time). All of these chapters are nothing new to anyone reading my blog, and they’re nothing new to anyone who owns a book on anabolic steroids already, but they’re not terrible.
Chapter four is about Henry K. Beecher (*sort of)…he’s a guy who basically said that the medical community is unethical, in broad strokes. He is quoted on the first page of the chapter, cited twice, but not introduced by name or profession until a page and a half into the chapter, after which the Nuremberg Code is introduced (named after the Nuremberg Trials) and explained, at which point the book veers back towards chapter three, and begins talking about ASIH and informed consent. Chapter five is about steroid use in HIV+ men, and by the end of the chapter, Scally has made the argument that when HIV+ men are forced to come off a cycle, they may actually be in state of worse health, because of the manifestation of ASIH. This point is well taken, even if the conclusion (the final sentence of the chapter) is missing words.
Chapter s six & seven are about steroid use in COPD and Kidney Disease, and both chapters come to the same conclusion as chapter five…if you have a sick person who is using steroids, and they stop, they’ll experience ASIH and get sicker than they previously were. These two chapters are the same as the one before them, and the next two chapters are more of the same. Scally makes the case that steroids are good for various conditions, and that simply stopping their use is dangerous. These chapters all make the same argument, but with different diseases, and the same conclusions. These chapters all make the same argument, but with different diseases, and the same conclusions. These chapters all make the same argument, but with different diseases, and the same conclusions. These chapters all make the same argument, but with different diseases, and the same conclusions.
See how annoying that was? To read the same sentence four times? That’s what it’s like reading these chapters. They should have been condensed into one chapter with the same conclusion. When you consider that roughly half of the book is dedicated to references, the fact that four chapters are almost exactly the same is going to be a factor on how you judge the book.
Chapter 10 is about “DoubleThink” – a term coined by George Orwell in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Essentially Scally goes after various organizations that are supposed to protect patients and insure sound research design and methodology. It is by far the most important (and longest) chapter, and is the only one that could potentially make any kind of difference in the world. When you read this chapter you’ll be convinced that the people running the show, with regards to medicine in this country, are a bunch of d-bags. I walked away convinced that numerous medical studies, with regards to design, application, and record-keeping, have been severely flawed. But I already knew this…when I was researching my first book, I poured over this same literature, unable to find many of the data I thought would have (pretty obviously) been included in the studies. A lot of these poorly designed studies contribute to the general lack of knowledge we have about steroids in the underground/illicit world – the reason we don’t really know which steroids impact the HPTA the most or which ones have specific effects in other areas, is because the studies haven’t been done, or as Scally points out, were done poorly. If you want a(nother) reason to hate the medical community, this chapter is it.
Chapter 11 is Scally’s Post-Cycle Therpy protocol. It is exactly the same protocol you’ll get if you look up his previously published work online, with very few words changed.
In the end, this book isn’t going to be worthwhile for most people…it lacks the writing skill to make it inherently readable, and it’s quite esoteric. You need to go into this with a decent base of knowledge about anabolic steroids, and a willingness to read through pages that just don’t want to be read. As I stated at the beginning of this review, my first book wasn’t a masterpiece either, and it likely has some incorrect passages as well… but paradoxically you’d learn more by reading that book than Scally’s because at least you’d understand what I was saying, and it would be relevant to you. This book is a bipolar mess, and I can’t figure out who it was written for (other doctors? Bioethicists? Steroid users? HIV+ men? I have no idea…). If this is the best a medical doctor can do, in support of additional research into anabolic steroids, then the movement has very little hope of getting anywhere, and if this is the best effort the pro-steroid crowd can muster, then it’s time to pack it in and call it a day. That’s what makes this book so upsetting….Scally will rail against the medical community, but won’t invest any time or money into publishing a decent book…instead he publishes this joke which, in my estimation, only serves to further distance him from credibility.
Was it worth it for me? Yeah, I guess….but knowing stuff like this is my job. If this book isn’t a work-requirement for you, then I suggest you buy something else.
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