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Finishing the book for nandi

Big Cat

Board Supporter
As you have all heard, Karl 'nandi' Hoffman passed away last week. I only learned the news myself this morning. His wife had sent me an email saturday, but my cable modem gave out last Friday. I'm still in shock and grieving.

For the last four weeks, Karl and I had been working on a mutual project. Quite a while ago I had gotten it in to my head to write a book about illegal ergogenics. I asked Karl to write the foreword. He agreed, but due to time constraints that project never took off. But a good month ago, he contacted me. Matt Boldt of SAN nutrition had commissioned him to write a book about anabolic androgenic steroids, and Karl had asked me to co-author it. Something I considered a great honour. As most of you know Karl meant a great deal to me.

Two weeks ago, Matt Boldt backed out, but Karl and I had agreed to finish the book and see where we take it from there. I was meaning to send him a few drafts Friday, when my modem gave out, and was shocked to learn the news this morning.

I have resolved to finish the book and dedicate it to the memory and legacy of Karl Hoffman. A man we all owe a debt of gratitude. But no one more than me. He was a friend to me, a confidente, a mentor, a man to look up to and admire, in many ways a role model. With Karl dies a vast amount of knowledge. He was the only other man who took such joy in researching and helping others with his research. The only man who could get as giddy as me over finding a new study, who was as eager to share what he learnt, and who would try his hardest to match and comment on findings. He will be missed greatly. And I hope his legacy will live on for many years.

I have vowed to finish the book, and I hope I can count on the collective memory of the online community to spur me on and complete this.

In memoriam, Karl Hoffman. May he rest in peace.
 
I had not heard of this... Wow... in the relatively short time I have been around online I have seen his name and posts many times. I give my condolences to his family and yourself.

I think it's great that you are going to finish the book. He will not only live on for the words he spoke on the net but also in the book.
 
Suck to hear, I just read it at outlawmuscle too. He helped the community a lot and I read a lot of his articles at Avant and CEM. RIP
 
Heart attack.... makes me wonder what age he was and his condition. He must have known that he had a heart condition or something. He also doesnt seem like the type to be abusing AAS heavily or doing rec drugs in dangerous amounts. He must have been much older than I imagined or else had a genetic heart condition. Maybe Big Cat could shed some light. Then again, maybe its too personal.

Either way it is a great loss. He has personally answered a few of my questions via PM. I know they were likely foolish newb questions from his perspective. Still, he answered them and I know he was probably flooded with emails and PM's. It's a great loss to the community as a whole. He was a very good source of reliable information and opinion.
 
My prayers go out to his family and friends. Big Cat I think finishing the book is a great way to pay your respects for Nandi. May he rest in peace.
 
Alpine said:
Heart attack.... makes me wonder what age he was and his condition. He must have known that he had a heart condition or something. He also doesnt seem like the type to be abusing AAS heavily or doing rec drugs in dangerous amounts. He must have been much older than I imagined or else had a genetic heart condition. Maybe Big Cat could shed some light. Then again, maybe its too personal.

Either way it is a great loss. He has personally answered a few of my questions via PM. I know they were likely foolish newb questions from his perspective. Still, he answered them and I know he was probably flooded with emails and PM's. It's a great loss to the community as a whole. He was a very good source of reliable information and opinion.
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Posted by fb47 on CEM:

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]I thought I should post something since I knew him better than probably anyone else.

I've known Karl and his wife personally for a long time. They were a perfectly matched pair if ever there was one, hanging out with them was always inspiring. The loss is terrible for her but last time I saw her she was doing a little better.

He recently found out that he had a terrible autoimmune disorder called dermatomyositis and it was extremely frustrating for him because it made him very weak and lethargic and he was very nearly addicted to physical exercise. As an example, couple years ago he messed up his shoulder benching and couldn't lift for a while, the doctor told him to "take it easy" which he thinks means "stay in your house." Long story short, he loaded up a backpack with 50 lbs of gear and ran up and down his stairs for two hours, everyday, until his shoulder felt better. He had been dealing with those symptoms described above for months, thinking it was his heart, when in actually it was his immune system attacking his skeletal muscle (bad disease for a bodybuilder). He really couldn't stand the thought of wasting away over time and that's what the prednisone and immunosupressants he would have to take as treatment would eventually have done to him. In some ways I think this may have been a better way out for him than the alternative. Not for those around though, as I and so many others will miss him terribly.

I'll see if I can find a picture to put up. I don't think he'd mind now.

BTW, he was fifty. And as far as his educational background he taught physics (he was just shy of a PhD) at Boston Unversity in his younger years, until he swtiched to real estate investing because he could make more money that way. As far as the biochem, medicine, and physiology he was entirely self taught. He was just an incredibly brilliant man who took great pleasure in learning and teaching others.[/font]
 
I'd choose heart attack over death by prednisone ANY day. It's been my experience that brilliant people tend to have some sort of idiosyncratic behavior somewhere. Since most of us are excercise fiends..it's not hard to relate to Karl.

RIP Karl, you will be missed.
 
Alpine said:
Heart attack.... makes me wonder what age he was and his condition. He must have known that he had a heart condition or something. He also doesnt seem like the type to be abusing AAS heavily or doing rec drugs in dangerous amounts. He must have been much older than I imagined or else had a genetic heart condition. Maybe Big Cat could shed some light. Then again, maybe its too personal.

Either way it is a great loss. He has personally answered a few of my questions via PM. I know they were likely foolish newb questions from his perspective. Still, he answered them and I know he was probably flooded with emails and PM's. It's a great loss to the community as a whole. He was a very good source of reliable information and opinion.
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Karl was 50. Far too young. But his heart attack may have been related to a condition he had been diagnosed with.
 
When the publication comes out, please let us know. I would be interested in buying a copy if for nothing more than his memory
 
If it is to honour his memory, I would sincerely hope it would be purchased for more than that reason. Karl and I shared the dream of publishing the definitive and quintessential book on anabolic-androgenic steroids. While I find this task very hard to complete without him, I hope I can at least come close to what he would have wanted it to be.
 
i would love a definitive reference to keep handy. with the exception of Author L Rea's, and a few others, many books today are little more than picture references; not that you would put out such a book.

i didn't mean to insult you, i simply meant that i would like a copy
 
chasec said:
i would love a definitive reference to keep handy. with the exception of Author L Rea's, and a few others, many books today are little more than picture references; not that you would put out such a book.

i didn't mean to insult you, i simply meant that i would like a copy
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Author L Rea's book is riddled with flaws and misinformation. THat is exactly the type of work I wish to avoid. I'm not going to dazzle people and claim I know everything, the first thing a researcher in this field has to acknowledge is that we know relatively little. Let alone quantifiable data. My aim, and that of Karl, was to present a work that presents the proper science and research on anabolic-androgenic steroids. Explain why certain steroids are perceived to do certain things.

To do that I will have to transcend my own capabilities. No more than 3 years ago I wrote profiles for bodybuilding.com. As Karl agreed, the best profiles to date, but admittedly, also flawed. Something I need to overcome when writing this book. The pressure on my shoulders is huge, even with the writings Karl left, finishing a book worthy of his name will be difficult. But I hope everyone realizes that what I present in the end will come as close to the ideal of the definitive book as possible.
 
For those of you wishing to express their condolences to Karl's wife, Elaine :

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