Stalefish: skateboard culture from the rejects who made it

by Sean Mortimer, Tony Hawk (Foreword)

How is being a professional skateboarder different from being, say, a professional golfer? More scabs, for one. Veteran skate journalist Sean Mortimer has interviewed the top skaters of all time to answer that question in meaningful and often humorous ways. Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Lance Mountain, and Rodney Mullen are a handful of the skaters who opine on sacking yourself, skate-induced ulcers, and the various ways in which skating ruins your love life. Including compelling photographs, Stalefish documents the gritty oral history of professional skating like no other book.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2008

Reviews

[Larry Atchley Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book with interviews from some of the most influential and famous people in skateboarding history. It took me all the way back to my teenage years as a skater and inspired me to get back on my board and shred and flow like I did back in the day. I bought some new skate shoes and I'm about to hit the streets and skate parks.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though bad ankles and work exhaustion kept me from continuing to skateboard, I lamented the easy acceptance it gained throughout the late 1990's and 2000's--cops harassed us, business owners threatened us, parents didn't understand, people threw stuff at us from cars and called us names, and, man, then it just became normal, for good kids, a sport even. Sure, they modified designs to prevent street skating, but they built parks for the new generation and there was skating on TV and shit.

Anyway, this book tries to establish the foundations of skateboarding as a culture--for misfits and outsiders. Through interviews on a variety of topics, it succeeds.

This, like skateboarding has always been, is completely male dominated and there isn't one female voice in the whole thing. As much as I loved skateboarding and wish I could still do it, I think the sexism and male domination is wrong and shameful and it should have been addressed.

[Ashly Nagrant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that there's limited amounts of room in a book. I understand an editor has to make certain choices when choosing contributors. But at the same time, this is supposedly the history of skate culture told by skaters.

Which is why I'm so confused as to why no female skaters are featured in this book.

A major part of skating history is missing from this book. No girls were asked to talk about their experiences in the culture. Apparently, even the "rejects" are capable of rejecting women from their culture. Nice to know.

Basically, couldn't finish it. What I read was interesting, but I was really let down by the sausage fest of contributors.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far a really good read on the history of skateboarding from the 50's until today.

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't read this book if you're a skateboarder, it will ruin skateboarding for you. Don't read it if you're not a skateboarder, it will bore you to death.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of history in this book. It was awesome to hear first-hand accounts of the evolution of skateboard culture.

[Matt Werynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im reading iut right know and I really like it so far. I loved this book a lot because it had all of the old skaters and how they grew up when they where kids.