Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Grinding It Out
When I decided to learn street skateboarding I was in a dilemma many skaters will identify with, I wanted to start at the top with some spectacular flip tricks and rail tricks that would have my friends jaws a-drop.But soon enough I realized that skating is an art of slow, small steps, and you have to give yourself room to reverse, always an escape hatch.Evan Goodfellow's introduction to flat world curb tricks was just what the doctor ordered.

I've never seen Goodfellow in person, but the clips I saw convinced me he knew what he was talking about.I started on page one and never really looked back.Funny to think of pro Evan posing for the photo set where he just ollies up a curb over and over again, must be like child's play to him.Soon enough he's onto switch stances and the "half cab noseslide," one of the most surprising of the curb tricks he outlines.On the wax debate, Goodfellow places himself firmly on the pro-wax team, even going so far as to suggest we abolish skate parks in favor of imitation city curbs and lots and call them our parks.

You have to hand it to the photographer too.They certainly don't skimp on photos unlike some of the other so called intros to skateboarding.The photographer, Tadashi Yamaoda, prints his slides in a clever greyscale system so that the deep background of each picture, the city skyline and so on, appears only in a fog of light gray, and the important details of the foreground are rendered in sharp black clarity.Very useful.A disclaimer at the beginning of the book says to wear safety equipment while skateboarding, but neither Evan nor any of his fellow models doing the tricks in the book look like they're wearing any gear, maybe a jockstrap possibly?Oh well, we get the picture, it's a sport that takes balls and talent.

Outstanding
I've seen the guy skate before, both in California and up in Canada, and have been blown away by the stuff he's been able to pull off.He lays his book out very well, showing the beginner, and the want-to-be-pro alike, exactly how to pull the best tricks off for themselves.Most instructional skating books are useless, but this one is actually very valuable, which is the first one like it that I've seen anywhere.You won't be disappointed in getting this book.

Great!
This book is the best I've read.The trick photos are cool and show me exactly how to do them.I wish he wrote books on surfing too.

Super informative
This book really gave me some great tips on learning new curb tricks. I found it to be really informative and well put together. I like the fact that the author is a skateboarder himself and can therefore offer valuable instruction from experience. I would recommend this book to any skateboarder looking to take their skating to the next level.

This book is awesome!
Finally, someone has written a book about skateboarding that can actually help you learn tricks. The photo sequences and step by step instructions are really helpful and the way the book is organized makes it really easy to learn how to improve your skateboarding. I would recommend this book for any skaters who are looking for some totally useful advice from a guy who has the skills to back up what he is saying. Evan Goodfellow knows skating! Check out the book for yourself and read what a pro skater has to say about the fastest way to learn grinds and slides. ... Read more

Book Description
Serious skaters looking for unusual and innovative tricks will find them in this skateboarding instructional guide. The tricks run the gamut from classic old school to modern with an emphasis on diversification, creativity, and originality. Included are riding basics and tips for controlling fear, visualizing, and focusing. Sequential shots detail every move needed to successfully re-create the various skateboarding tricks. The mechanics of the sport are also covered, including types of boards available, and the various wheels, bearings, and skateboarding surfaces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Skateboarding;Bag of Tricks
I bought this book for my 14 year old grandson. He said ,"Grandma you finally sent me a book I want to read!!"

zack's reviews
This book is not a beginner book butit is agood book when u
know how to ollie& all beginner tricks.

skateboarding
I like this book because it does give some information about some tricks. It show's some good skateboarding tricks. What i don't like is it doesn't give that many picture.

Skating tricks
I found this book surprisingly useful as I read it.There are tons of photos and they help a ton to explain the different trick walkthroughs.The explanations are clear and simple and can help ANY skater improve on his game.I enjoyed it.

Two thumbs up,

Caleb
www.myboardshop.com

Got the wrong book
Actually I intended to order another book "Ramp Plans: Learn How to Build Vert Street Mini Launch and Bowls (2000 Edition)", but by mistake seem to have ordered this one instead without realising it before it arrived.Must be my mistake where as I should have noticed this in the confirmation email I got. Still, better luck next time... ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Awesome
This book is one of the best skate boarding books out there.I definitely recommend it.Great photos, easy explanations. ... Read more

Book Description
From board maintenance and ollies to vert skating and grinds, this book uses bite-sized instructions and killer original photography to introduce kids to the action-packed world of skateboarding. ... Read more

Book Description
The first book ever published to document the history of one of the worlds most cutting edge sports-skateboarding.The book features hundreds of photos of skaters, memorabilia and includes interviews with Tony Alva and Tony Hawk.Forward by Rodney Mullen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Should be a staple in every skater's house
Very interesting historical view on skating. Reads more like a magazine, (no wonder he started one) but in a good way. We are presented with articles basically, from key skaters throughout time. My only gripe is that he hasn't done a new edition, but I really can't complain about this book.

Checked the facts.... and loved it!
I was more than a little skeptical when I started reading this one, but found it very enlightening for a "non-skater with a skater husband".I was even more shocked to find out my husband corresponds regularly with the author! I felt this was a very honest, fact-filled book which made it easy for even a laywoman to understand. :)

This book is an awesome read as well as some of the other publications that Michael's company has out there!My hubby is a big stickler for details and even he was impressed, which takes a lot. Being almost-40 (but would never admit it) sports nuts, we both enjoyed this one!

Early History of Skateboarding
This 1999 book is more like a bunch of 'zines stitched together than a straightforward histroy of skateboarding: There are lots of sidebars, numerous authors and topics, full-page illustrations that look like ads, and unexpected excursions into such areas as "Skateboards at the Movies."

Still, there's a lot of love within this book. Those of you who enjoyed the recent documentary, "Dogtown and the Z-Boys," will find a similar fan/participant enthusiasm here. The early years are emphasized: The index lists Tony Hawk on only about 10 pages, and the X-games on only 4 pages. Still, for a chronicle of (especially) the early years of skateboarding, for its photos, density of information, and the enthusiasm of the writers, this is a good book for the skateboarding fan. 197 pages of text, an index, lots of photos, and five interesting appendices: "Pros of the Last 40 Years," "Skateboards at the Movies," "Skateboard Competitions (through 1993 only)," "Memorable Skateparks of North America," and "Skate 'Zines." What's really needed is an updated version of the book.

badly jaded book
Possibly one of the most lame jaded skateboard books writtenwithout good fact checking and bought andpaid for by a fausto vitello mythology of SF- centric [stuff].
It is full of horrible misconceptions and leaves out the real people who built the sport. It is totalBS by a dude in the frozennorth who is so detached from the scene.

absolute GARBAGE, should be a 0.

concrete wave
this book was kick [rear].If you want to learn your skateboard history this book is perfect for doing so. ... Read more

Book Description
Art, Skateboarding & Life is an action packed story that is related in a series of awesome visuals. In his first monograph, Andy Howell's work on the deck and as an artist is presented within the context of an expansive network of artists, skaters and agitators all bent on having an impact. Chronologically arranged chapters are driven by an intense mixture of interviews, narrative text and non-stop full bleed visuals that trace Howell's journey through pro skateboarding, the action sports industry and allied segments of the DIY movements within art, music and design. Contributors include Tony Hawk, Shepard Fairey, Patricia Arquette, Dallas Austin, Ed Templeton, David Choe and Kenton Parker. The 2 DVDs feature interviews with artists and skaters, skate videos and music by Alyasha Owerka-Moore, Monkey Wrench, Mass Prophets, The Blowing Rock Triplets and so much more!! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

N-joy
Raw art striaght from the sk8 life. This is a collection of what many skateboarders [who are actually artists] think about. Well worth exploring. Nicely wrapped.

Inspiring!
One of the most creative individuals in Skateboarding. This book is a MUST HAVE for anybody who have ridden a skateboard. And there are 2 dvds as well, with classics from New Deal. (The only thing missingis the music)

Thanx Andy!

Øyvind K. Svendsen
Norway

maximum visual density
this book will take you hours and hours to get through. between the texts from Howell and guests such as dave kinsey, tony hawk and shepard fairey and the thousands of images there's just an amazing amount of skate culture crammed into one book.

Sell Out!
This guy started out pretty cool, but then proceeded to market a cool culture that he was a part of to corporations so they could exploit kids with heart, exploit our skate culture, in turn he could make some dough. the definition of a sellout. ... Read more

Book Description
Skateboarders are an increasingly common feature of the urban environment - recent estimates total 40 million world-wide. We are all aware of their often extraordinary talent and manoeuvres on the city streets. This book is the first detailed study of the urban phenomenon of skateboarding. It looks at skateboarding history from the surf-beaches of California in the 1950s, through the purpose-built skateparks of the 1970s, to the street-skating of the present day and shows how skateboarders experience and understand the city through their sport. Dismissive of authority and convention, skateboarders suggest that the city is not just a place for working and shopping but a true pleasure-ground, a place where the human body, emotions and energy can be expressed to the full.The huge skateboarding subculture that revolves around graphically-designed clothes and boards, music, slang and moves provides a rich resource for exploring issues of gender, race, class, sexuality and the family. As the author demonstrates, street-style skateboarding, especially characteristic of recent decades, conducts a performative critique of architecture, the city and capitalism. Anyone interested in the history and sociology of sport, urban geography or architecture will find this book riveting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Production of Space
This book is an informative look into Ian Bordens extensive research into the history and culture of skateboarding, which illustrates alternative issues of architecture and production of space.

The beginning chapters are heavy reading and heavily referenced, but worth the time and effort.The later chapters go into an in depth and detailed look at skateboarding development and cultural issues.

He challenges readers to change their perception of architecture and spaces, and to look at how our own actions affect the space we occupy, by looking at skateboarding and its culture.He references Lefebvre who said, "Surely it is the supreme illusion to defer to architects, urbanists or planners as being experts or ultimate authorities in matters relation to space."He then goes on to talk about how the interaction addresses the physical architecture, yet responds with a dynamic presence not another physical object.Skateboarding produces space, but also time and the self.This book addresses how, architecture as a set of flows, as a set of experience and reproductions, can be embedded in the practices of architectural history - for as architecture is not itself a space, but only a way of looking at space.The rest of the book is a thoroughly researched look at skateboarding.

Its worthwhile noting that his is not a skateboarding magazine and is written in the academic tongue so is not easy to read.But worthwhile reading if you are interested in this field.

Appropriate This! Urban Space
Unmistakably and in so many ways, Iain Borden thinks that skateboarding is RAD!This sentiment comes through in nearly every one of his 267 pages on the subject, a sort of tribute to the urban arts of skateboarding.This is scholarship as panegyric ... but don't get me wrong, I'm largely with Borden in his readings and estimation of the radical nature and content and potential of skateboarding: it's RAD!

In this monograph, Borden's archive is largely skateboarding magazines.He talks some about zines and almost none about films, and the way he reads mags is simply (and a bit disappointingly) to quote from the alphabetic portions of those texts.This is not to say that this book is not replete with images, because it is -- photos, magazine pages, more photos, including even one of Borden in a pool at a skate park! love that moment in the text -- it's just that Borden is not a discourse analyst, so he doesn't break down and close read in the ways I might have wanted him too.But dude, he sure is an architectural theorist, and so what this book is is Borden dumping piles and piles of Lefebvre onto skateboarding in order to redefine architecture and make sophisticated sense of what might otherwise be considered a "mere" hobby.

That's right: Borden more or less erects a massive half pipe of Lefebvre's work on space and the city, rhythmanalysis, bodies, and the modern city, and then skates skateboarding and the spaces/landscapes that skateboarding takes place and shape in and around in RIGHT THROUGH that theoretical halfpipe.It makes for a yummy ride, if a bit of a repetetive one -- back and forth we go for all of those 267 pages largely riding on the simulacral wave that is the half pipe made out of Lefebvre.But since I dig Lefebvre, I was into the book.

Okay, but this is what Borden SAYS in this book, and what he claims, and what he ardently works to prove.He's mainly trying to say (aside from the statement that "Skateboarding is RAD!" which comes through on every page of this book, even though it is never expressly said) is that

*** get this *** Architecture is not buildings, and objects in our cities and lives are not texts, but that architecture is a sort of result of interactions of bodies in space.So the skater in the halfpipe makes something in excess of the pipe when he (and it usually is a he, Borden concedes; hot skater dudes populate this text while skate-grrls are few) goes for an arial, or does something unexpected with his body-board continuum.Skateboarding is just one way, and a very specific one, that space in the city is made and remade and created out of interactions of the skating kind.

Okay, so that seems to be his main idea, as I repeat it with flaws of all kinds, no doubt.He begins with chapters on wheels and boards, then moves to the skateparks (less interesting) and the urban appropriation of space/architecture by rampaging skater dudes (more interesting).This is where skating is radical, unlawful, wild ... RAD!Borden does a few other funny things: like saying skating is the parole to the lange of the boring everyday, or something like that.He's all theory-crazed, looking for any way he possibly can to see skateboarding as RAD!And he does.And it works.

I guess the main limitation of this book for me, and there were few, is the lack of critique.Borden doesn't see skateboarding as being nearly as commodified and caught up on "what's cool" and even a sort of coopted critique and radicalism as I see it to be.I think it's RAD, I guess, but in ways I wished he would have explored the commodification of it more, the rage and anger and ways that skating is perhaps misplaced and thus safe aggression and critique.I wanted it to be read not so much as RAD, but as a patterning with more facets, at least a few of them LAME.Without, it becomes some kind of cure-all activity, beyond human.

a major disapointment
Yes, I said it, and I stand behind it. I really had my hopes up for this one. There is so much that can be done, the title alone suggests creativity utilizing the imagination. Does it deliver? No. The book, wich I expected to be full of photography and articles showing how skateboarders use the surrounding architecture for creativity, is really just a sad piece that goes on to tell the history of skateboarding, with very little interesting photography at all. The written content itself is hard to keep your interest, even for a long time skateboarder as myself. Dont get me wrong, I am all for the history of skateboarding, hell, I lived most of it. But that should be and has been put in books and editorials that were labled as such. This was, as I said, a disapointment.I can only hope that someone will see this and spark the idea to do it right, unless I do it first that is. ... Read more

Book Description
This beginner's instructional guide is designed to appeal to novice- and intermediate-level skateboarders. The topics include tips on safety, equipment, and basic riding techniques. The author collaborated with and sought the expertise of top riders and coaches in order to explore the how-tos of riding and performing maneuvers upon various terrain and obstacles likely to be found on the streets or in skate parks. The step-by-step instructions and photographs illustrate important details and fail-proof methods that will help get beginning skateboarders riding in no time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Not So Much
I bought this book a while back, and it is O.K...but thats where it stops.

There is nothing at all like watching in real life--or hey, why not TV how to start-up ur own tricks?

Much better, and much more worth it--Check out this movie Skateboarding Explained!

Its Wayyy more helpful and like i said--Much more worth it.

You can check it out on Amazon or on MySpace..Hey give it a try?

What you got to lose? haha, go Back to this book I guess if it doesnt help...but im telling you now--Skateboarding Explained is MUCH MUCH better!!

Keep Skatin!

Not Bad
The book is a great book if you have never skateboarded before or if you want to learn about it. It spends a lot of time on what it is and what it is about. The book tells about the parts and pieces of a typical skateboard.... And it also tells how to ride a skateboard, but you don't really need the book... just get on a board and ride how you feel comfortable. The book also tells about the history of skateboarding as you go along in the book. And for the trick tips section....it just has the basic stufflike an ollie and kickturns. Nothing big, just the basics are in this book.

Skateboarder's start-up
Skateboardersstart up
by Doug Werner with SteveBadillo
2002
All people who like to skate board this book is for you.It tells you about the laws and the safety of skateboarding.
Some of the exciting parts are the parts were they show you how to do the tricks and it tells you how to do kickfilp and other cool tricks . And they show you how to plant your feet on the board
The people who like this book like to skateboard and people who want to learn it

here is a good idea
all this book can tell u for tricks is where to put your feet and you're never gonna magically get good by reading.

Skate
You dont need a book to tell you how to skate. You need to go to your local spots, and parks and watch people skate. Buy skate videos and figure it out. Skate in your driveway for hours on end. And most of all have fun. ... Read more

Product Description
Counterfeit skateboards, chasing smugglers and exciting skateboarding competitions. Find out how five young people learn valuable life lessons while saving the skate park of their dreams. Continuous action leading to the toughest challenge ever. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great skateboarding story
I picked up this book after I heard about it on the radio.It's a great story that boys and girls would love.They have to have an interest in skateboarding.I bought it for my son (13 yrs) and he couldn't put it down.He loved the action and all the skateboarding talk.Even my daughter (11 yrs) liked it.

If you're looking for a great story that the kids will love, this is it. ... Read more

Book Description

An illustrated tour of a unique subculture.

Skateboarding first emerged in the United States in the 1950s and has been gaining in popularity ever since. The number of skateboarders worldwide is now estimated at eighteen million.

• One in ten U.S. teenagers currently owns or rides a skateboard
• Skateboarding has recently seen the biggest growth of any sport
• More than 600 skateparks were built in 2001
• Skateboarding has become the sixth largest participation sport.

Skateboarding is Not a Crime is a celebration of the success of both the sport and the subculture. Illustrated with dramatic action photography and written in a lively style, the book recounts the history of the sport and explains its unique codes and customs. Also included are valuable 'boarding instructions for enthusiasts.

This book is organized as follows:

• Introduction
• History and Development
• Global Skate Village
• Skateboarding Culture
• Skateboarding Media
• Standing on a Board
• Tricks and Techniques.

Skateboarding is a sport with a philosophy and a culture very much its own. Skateboarding is Not a Crime reflects this very individual 'boarding culture and is designed to appeal to skateboarders as well as those who want to understand their world.

Customer Reviews (1)

A lotta heart
gotta give this guy credit - he tried and did a prety good job, better than most out there. ... Read more

Book Description
Skateboarding isn't just a way to get around. It's a way of life-a youth culture phenomenon that's spawned an industry worth $150 million a year. Everywhere you look, skate web sites and magazines are popping up, reaching an ever-growing audience of thousands of kids per day. And if you want to hop on board and live the life, you gotta know what's up-down to the gear you wear, the music you crank, and places you hang. Go Skate takes you on a wild ride into the heart of the skateboarder's world, care of author Ben Bermudez, one of Southern California's skate experts. If you've never pulled an Ollie, Half Cab, or Pop Shuvit, Go Skate teaches you the basics to get started. Talk the talk as you learn the tricks, smell the smells, and watch the pros in action. More than just a how-to guide or dictionary of skate slang, Go Skate features full color photographs on every page and step-by-step instructions for every move-as well as hilarious tips on what not to do. But even if you've been pulling 360 kickflips since you were in diapers, Go Skate shows you the stunts you may have missed. Pros and amateurs alike can all learn something, because Go Skate is the first complete book of skateboarding, period. So sit back and take a look, and never forget the one and only rule: Enjoy it! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

your all posers
you guys are all a bunch posers.. no boook can help ya out that much

BEST SKATEBOARDING BOOK EVA!
THIS BOOK MADE ME OLLIE 1 FOTT HIGHER AND KICKFLIP HALFCAB AND 360 FLIP IM NOW OLLIEING 25 STAIRS ITS TIGHT!!

GET DIS BOOK

This book rules- I CAN NOW OLLIE!!!!
Man this book has done wonders for me. Before I could never ollie, now I'm doing "the kickflip".I really hope to be sponsored one day, and go proffessional.This book told me all of the lingo, so I don't sound like a complete nerdo when I'm trying to make friends at the park. By using the tips and learnig the colorful history of skateboarding, I can skate amazing now. Everyone should read this book, it will make you ollie atleast 1 foot higher! If you read it twice, maybe you'll be as good as Ron Gordon!!!

I FINALLY LEARNED KICKFLIPS!!!
THIS IS THE BEST SKATEBOARD BOOK I HAVE EVER READ. I LEARNED KICKFLIPS THE DAY AFTER I GOT IT, AND NOW I AM DOING KICKFLIP FRONTSIDE BOARDSLIDES DOWN 26 STAIR HANDRAILS. THISIS THE MOST DETAILED BOOK I HAVE EVER SEEN. THIS BOOK WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,IT HAS FULL COLOR PHOTOS OF ALL MY FAVORITE SKATEBOARDERS, EVEN BEN KENDALL. THERE ARE SO MANY FUNNY JOKES IN THIS BOOK I LAUGHED MY WHEELS OFF. I LEARNED EVERYTHING FROM FOOT PLACEMENT TO HOW NOT TO PUSH. IDEFINATLY RECCOMEND THIS BOOK FOR NOT ONLY BEGINNERS BUT ADVANCED SKATEBOARDERS ALSO. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Amazing book!
This book is not for the tech kids!If you're into hip hop, Todd Falcon, and lots of non-turning type tricks don't buy this book.If you're into Transworld and all of the fashion that it contains, this book is not for you!This book is only for real skaters - those that are keeping skating punk and illegal!

Got me to skate again>>.
Great book, ahhhh the memories... good times ,great friends

and a pic of me......San Jo pride

An essential coffe table book for the skateboarder
The photographs and rider profiles of this book are significant to skateboarding history on their own. But this book is mainly about the company Ermico and Independant truck company, so you get a very good history peppered with historical figures in skateboading giving their amuseing memeories of the the beginings of the company. I think this book helps a new skater understand the rich and legit history of our sport. This book is thouroghly interesting, and even more so if you have some familiarity of the people documneted in it. I would suggest a veiwing of Dogtown and Z-boys the documnetary, as well as the Duane Peter's story "who cares" in addition to this book. If you still want more you can rent "Stoked" the rise and fall of gator for more introspective on the waxing and waneing of skateboarding.
This book is a must for any skateboarder's coffee table.

disappointing
Nice package it comes in, and it's so big, but I was expecting this book to be so much better, a few good shots, but really missing some of the greatest classic stuff. I guess it's from the manufacture's perspective. They have been an incredible story in the annals of skate history, and everyone who skates knows that Indy's turn like no others, but just becuse they also have a good logo known around the world by skaters and non-skaters alike, did we need to have this basicly boring book to be put out? I don't think it add's much.

built to grind
I got this for my husband.He couldn't put the book down! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (6)

For big girls too
Hands down, this is a great book.
I'll definitely be giving this book as a present.

But I have to admit, I didn't expect it.

"Introduction to ___" - type books have the propensity to make me feel like a three year old, or to go over my head.
But Segovia does neither. She doesn't pander, nor does she try to woo the reader with an overload of tech-y terms.

Instead she speaks directly, simply, honestly, and perhaps most importantly, she speaks with true knowledge and love of the sport.

Skillfully blending straightforward instructions with really cool facts about the history of skateboarding (which she is a part of !! hall of fame!! ), this book made me want to go find that skateboard that's been in the closet.

I recommend this book to any age group, any experience, any background in skating-- anyone with an interest in learning about skating, learning to skate, or even just for the pictures!

Great book for gal sk8ers!
We bought this book for our daughter who has recently developed an interest in skating. We are very pleased with this book for a few reasons...

1) All the pictures of the girls in this book are tasteful, meaning they're not dressed in attire that may, by some, be considered inappropriate and the opposite of modest. That was the major reason we gave it to her- kids are more impressionable these days.

2) This book broke-down a lot of preconceived ideas she had about skating. She has an older brother who is also into skateboarding and although her interest was strong, so were her inhibitions to skate around boys. That is all but gone now, and we believe this book helped to give her the courage to skate in front of her brother or his friends.

3) It is a teaching book! It actually has helped our daughter with those 'tricks' the kids are always trying to do. She hasn't put it down since we gave it to her (in fact, I believe she has it right now!). As soon as she's read a section about a new trick, she jumps on her board to goes to try-out what she's just read.

If you have a girl-skatboarder in your family, then buy this book. It'sbeen a blessing for our daughter and I'm sure it will be for yours too!!!

Awesome!
I love skating and this book was really great -- I want to give it to one of my friends for her birthday.

Great book for 'skatergirls'!
My 10 year old daughter loves this book and says she's learned how to do tricks from it.It has cool pictures and even stuff about encountering boys at the skate park.Get this for your 'skatergirl'!

Skater girls rock!!!
This is the first book on the market just for girl skateboarders. This is awesome! It shows girls how to enjoy skateboarding without being scarred. This book will take you through all the steps from the beginning to the end so you can be stoked on skateboarding. Enjoy it while you can! Peace out... ... Read more

Book Description
An instructional guide to an increasingly popular sport, this book reviews the basics of skateboarding, the mental and emotional side of the sport, and what it takes to become an advanced skater. As aggression is a key factor to skating success, this book attempts to pinpoint where the risks begin to outweigh a skater's chance for reward and success. Also included are sequential shots of 25 street and park tricks, to help skaters visualize and learn new concepts and skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

At least it was written by a skateboarder
Skateboarding books have yet to truly capture the art, but Steve Badillo makes a valiant attempt in Skateboarding: New Levels.In Skateboarding, Steve combines interviews with seasoned pros, trick tips, and information about how to upstart a skateboard following in anytown, USA.While the interviews with some well known professional skateboarders seem like a good idea, the questions asked and the responses given do little to help a skateboarder just starting out or an intermediate trying to further his or her expertise.The questions are well intended with an example being "how do you deal with fear?", but the responses seem to general and generic to help like "I try to be relaxed."As the book progresses to trick tips, anyone would realize that the trick tips are way too specific and random to help someone trying to progress.The combinations make no sense, going from a one footed Japan air to a backside feeble 180 out.This random assortment of trick tips feels unbalanced and voids the potential for real help once again.The final segment, "building a park", is actually the only useful and helpful section of the book.In this chapter, Werner and Badillo identify the advantages to all types of skateparks and approaches to get them funded and approved.Without the chapter on skatepark construction, this book would have been a 2 star book, but with the useful information about building a park and the fact that the information is true because it was written by a real skateboarder, this book is a 4 star contender. ... Read more