Product Description
Fast-paced X Games Action at your fingertips! Your readers will blaze through these extreme sport titles! With high-action photos, diagrams, and Fact! boxes. ... Read more

Product 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

Product Description

Action sequences show all the techniques and tricks -- from basic to advanced.

Skateboarding's popularity continues to soar -- it has now surpassed basketball in popularity among North American youth. Skateboarding Skills is an ideal guide both for first-time riders learning the necessary skills, and for more experienced ones wanting to perfect a maneuver or master a move.

Written in an easy-to-follow style and packed with color photographs, Skateboarding Skills features:

• A review of safety issues-from avoiding an injury to landing safely on a fall
• A guide to purchasing and maintaining equipment
• Clothing guidelines -- skate shoes, helmet, and pads for knees, elbows and wrists
• Tricks, techniques and maneuvers for all levels from powerslides to kickflips
• 37 action photo sequences graded according to level from basic to advanced
• Tips from the pros, plus a glossary of skateboarding jargon and slang.

Since the sequences progress in difficulty, skateboarders can move on to the next level when ready or return to an earlier one and practice it, making Skateboarding Skills an ideal handbook for a skyrocketing sport.

Product Description

Product Description
Cliche: Resume spotlights the largest European skateboard brand from its establishment in 1997 in the days of VHS and polaroid to the present. This epic volume features skate photography from inside the crew, and is packed with wicked shots of kickflips, ollies, wallrides, and front nosegrinds. The book follows Jeremie Daclin, founder of Cliche skateboards in France, and the heart and soul tactics needed from the early days with no money, investors, or even employeesfrom the days of a VHS sponsorship request from then-unknown Arto Saariand ranges from Athens, Greece, to NYC, to Sardinia, Italy. Interviews, polaroids, and street tales of camping tents inside sewer tunnels, rental van tours, and home-cooked meals even the Gypsy Tour 1, a skateboard Survivor-style challenge to Cliche skaters of touring with no lodging and only 10 euros a day with serious mayhem resulting. Cliche has broken into the US market just as Daclin dreamed, most recently putting out a noteworthy Sean Cliver. ... Read more

Product Description
Instructions for choosing equipment and learning basic skateboarding techniques, popular stunts, and routines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book
Skateboarding by Howard Reiser

Skateboarding is a good book for anyone who wants to learn about the past of skateboarding. Since this book was written in the 70's, it provides a good look at what skateboarding used to be.
It introduces skateboarding, and tells you how it came to be. It includes finding the right wheel size for your skateboard, and determining what deck is the best size for you. In later chapters, you will learn how to perform cool tricks, the language of skateboarding, learn about different pros, and parks and camps where you can learn to skate.
I really liked this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes skateboarding. It really proves that anyone can learn to ride a skateboard. ... Read more

Product Description
In Skateboarding: Instruction, Programming, and Park Design, author Ben Wixon, an experienced skateboarder, instructor, and skatepark consultant and advocate, provides you with

• a full curriculum with progressive lesson plans and practice strategies to help you teach skateboarding safely and correctly;
• guidance through the planning and design process, including an overview of the pros and cons of various skatepark styles and construction types;
• information on key management issues such as supervision, staffing, scheduling, and maintenance; and
• strategies for managing risk through appropriate skateboarding instruction, supervision, and park maintenance.

Skateboarding also features thorough coverage of skatepark management and administration. Wixon offers expert advice on planning and designing a skatepark, including factors to consider, information on the various types of skateparks, and help with budgeting for construction and maintenance costs. The book also includes tools to help you manage both new and existing facilities, including recommendations on scheduling and programming, staffing and supervision guidelines, and instructions on establishing a maintenance routine. ... Read more

Product Description
Discusses the sport of extreme skateboarding, including the moves and safety issues involved with the sport. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful
This is the one of best skateboarding books I ever read in my life. It's got some great moves that alot of famous and non-famous skaters use. I gave it a "4 star" because it doesn't have many pictures, but it's still good and it'll probably suit any skateboarding fan.... ... Read more

Product Description

An illustrated guide to skateboarding skills and techniques.

Skateboarding is more than a sport; it is a passion and way of life driven by those who love to push the limits of gravity and inertia while bending the notions of social acceptability. The Skateboarding Field Manual addresses both the intricacies of the sport and the intangibles of its culture. Skateboard enthusiast and journalist Ryan Stutt provides outstanding advice, which ranges from how to stand on your board and how to fall without causing injuries to how to perform grinds, slides and flips.

This comprehensive reference is simply the very best manual on the sport of skateboarding. There are 33 maneuvers and tricks for beginners to intermediates, all illustrated with over 350 custom color photographs by skateboarding photographer Harry Gils.

Other features include:

The Skateboarding Field Manual is the essential guide for anyone looking to master the art of skateboarding and to understand its unique culture

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book for beginner
I bought this book for my son and he really love it. My son told me that this book is very good because it explain single basic trick for beginner to know

I recommed this book to you all beginner ... Read more

Product Description
Describes street skating, an extreme sport in which skateboarders do tricks with their skateboards on street courses and public parks and sidewalks. ... Read more

Product Description
Harry the Bear is not like his brother bears. He doesn't like fishing or taking a hike. He sees kids skateboarding and it captures his imagination. After some debate whether bears can skate or not, the children adopt him as a friend and help Harry achieve his dream of becoming a skateboarder. ... Read more

Product Description
This instructional sports book is designed for the beginning athlete. A perfect introduction to skateboarding that can be enjoyed by the young reader as a participant or as an enthusiastic fan.

Readability Level: Grades 3-6 Interest Level: Grades 2-7 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

man i was disappointed
this book [stinks].i hate it.its a waste of money.i thought i would learn how to do a switch 720 540 flip to a backside noselide down a triple kinked handrail landing in a manual and going over to a trashcan and ollieing it while still in the manual in less that a month and ive been skating scince last week.

can't ollie...
man, I don't know what the heck these guys were thinking.I've been in the scene since Powell-Peralta was a glimmer in their daddy's eye.I tried to do some of the tricks in here the way they described and ended uptearing two ligaments.These guys are dangerous!I gave the book twostars just because I liked the pictures.I tell you what, though...therewas not nearly as much info. on the better features of helmets as I like tosee.I can't get enough about HELMETS! Skate and create, but for the loveof Christo, don't read this freakin' book.

Switch 360 flip to backside nose blunt slide on a handrail
I thought this book would teach me how to do a switch 360 flip to backside nose blunt slide on triple kinked handrail.Boy was I wrong, it only tells you how to do a switch Mctwists to nose wheelie off a launch ramp. ... Read more

Product Description
Describes the history, equipment, and techniques involved in the sport of skateboarding. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Skateboarding Basics, by Jackson Jay
Skateboarding Basics by Jackson Jay is about the basics of how to skateboard. It breaks everything down easy for you to understand. It tells you when the tradition started and how it changed in many ways. The book also teaches you how to do tricks to start out with and what to wear for being safe on the sidewalk. It's a good book and I strongly recommend you to read this book if you want to learn skateboarding.

Saveyourmoner. Sk8ter
OkayIthinkthebooksucked.Youshouldjustsaveyourmoneyandbuysomenewtrucksoranewdeckorsomething.Althoughitdoeshavesomesickpicturesinit.Sk8board4life

Horrible!I would have given it NO stars!
This book really stunk! it was the worst book i've ever read! ... Read more

Product Description
Simple text describes skateboarding, how and where it is done, the equipment used, and safety precautions. ... Read more