Rodney Mullen

Still not a skateboarder. Still haven’t set foot in my (new) town’s skate shop. But still reading skate books/memoirs and revelling in the random truisms that they seem to reveal. (Levelling up side note: my new digs have a lovely waxed curb thanks to the previous tenants, and some choice smoothed pavement/asphalt, so the temptation to pick up a board looms slightly louder). Rodney Mullen is undoubtedly one of the godfathers of modern skate, so it seemed appropriate to pick up his show more autobiography when the seasonal call of the city’s concrete began to echo. Unlike Mullen, I have zero interest in even the potential of smashing my teeth in, popping an ankle, or amassing a collection of scrapes and bruises, but his love (or obsession) with the sport is clear from the first push and is totally endearing. Growing up in a challenging environment seems to be a common thread that seems to push many skateboarders to adopt the rebellious lifestyle, but Mullen seems to stand a bit to the left of this expectation; sure, his father wasn’t a fan and put some heavy handed roadblocks up along the way, but the son he raised was too busy trying to perfect his next trick and push himself to the limit to get up to the expected shenanigans of some of his classmates. Overall, we get the feeling that Mullen is a strange, but sweet hearted, weirdo who is driven by the same determination and creativity that runs in his genes. His story is definitely a compelling one, even though it lacks the shock factor that defines some of skateboarding’s more colourful escapades, and I can tell that the book itself gets a certain amount of narrative polish from the skills of his coauthor Sean Mortimer. If left to his own devices, Mullen’s rambles would have run off the page and into another dimension (I mean, have you seen the guy speak? He’s brilliant, but anything but linear); as entertaining as it may have been to watch him wax eloquent about God, the poetics of skate, and lessons from his childhood neuroses, I’m glad we got a storyarc instead that drew a (relatively straight) line from oddball kid to the skateboarder credited with building the sport into what it is today. show less

Good book for kids who are interested in skateboarding. It gives insight into the author's past and life which is interesting.