HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN

If the career of any single individual could serve as a microcosm of the changes in the "sport" of wrestling over the past 40 years, it would have to be that of Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea in real life). His autobiography is an honest, albeit incomplete, look at the many phases in Hogan's career that will be fascinating only to Hogan's many fans. Hogan covers all the key moments in his long career: his early incarnation in the late 1970s as "Super Destroyer"; the birth of the good-guy Hulk Hogan persona; joining forces with Vince McMahon Jr. in the hugely popular WrestleMania events of the 1980s; his admission in the early 1990s of his steroid use; and his current reincarnation as a good guy with McMahon's sleeker World Wrestling Entertainment. To their credit, Hogan and co-writer Friedman do provide some glimpses of the often seedy world of "professional" wrestling (fights are staged and scripted; wrestlers often cut themselves to produce bloody wounds), but it isn't anything that everyone doesn't already know. While Hogan has come out against what he calls "Jerry Springer tits-and-ass style wrestling," he never explains why he has spent the last few years reviving his career with the man who invented, and continues to actively promote, that very same style—Vince McMahon Jr. (Nov.)

Forecast:This will be an appealing read for Hogan's still-sizable fan base, and sales should be helped by promotion on the publisher's popular cable TV wrestling shows.