Ice Skating: From Axels to Zambonis

by Dan Gutman

Profiles former and current skating stars, provides a history of the sport and an explanation of skating terms, and includes lists, statistics, and a glossary full of information about ice skating today.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

The author of over 80 books in a little over a decade of writing, Dan Gutman has written on topics from computers to baseball. Beginning his freelance career as a nonfiction author dealing mostly with sports for adults and young readers, Gutman has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the time-travel sports book Honus and Me and its sequels, and a clutch of baseball books, including The Green Monster from Left Field. From hopeful and very youthful presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman's fertile imagination. As he noted on his author Web site, since writing his first novel, They Came from Centerfield, in 1994, he has been hooked on fiction. "It was fun to write, kids loved it, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD."

Gutman was born in New York City in 1955, but moved to Newark, New Jersey the following year and spent his youth there.

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book 20 years ago when first learning to figure skate; revisiting “Ice Skating: From Axels to Zambonis” elicits fond memories. On the downside, some elements may be outdated:
USFSA rules are described in a 6.0 score, (with judge cheating not really brought up... boy, how things have changed.)
Tara Lipinski is described as merely a “very promising 13-year-old,” (pg 66)
There is no mention of Alexei Yagudin (who only became famous after 1995, this book’s publication.)
Besides these observations, the book is awesome. It covers the history of the sport well in a fun manner that incorporates humor (“what is the worst thing that ever happened to a zamboni? Hockey player.... became frustrated and attacked a Zamboni with an ice squeegee. He didn’t do much damage, though.” Page 26). Short bios of legendary athletes are also well-informed (including Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hammill, even going back as far as Axel Paulsen and Jackson Haines.) I especially enjoyed the bio of Dick Button’s achievements, including his obsession with getting the double axel right, where he would often “do it in his sleep... his family became used to hearing Dicky leap from his bed in the middle of the night and crash to the floor” (page 37). As a young skater growing up, I had also appreciated reading Tara Lipinski’s day-in-the-life routine (the entire chapter 4), a how-to guide on basic jumps (the entire chapter 5,) as well as descriptions of the modern stars (the entire chapter 6.) In short, if you are a figure skating fan, particularly the 90s era characterized by Elvis Stokjo, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Nicole Bobek, this book will be a treasure for you.

[Yijun Yuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you would ignore the years when the skaters in this book won their championship, it is quite a good book. The cost of a skater used to be 25k to 50k per year, and a Zamboni was sold 5500 units for 50k each. Now all numbers doubled or more. Skaters did not do quintuple turns, though. Also people are still watching ice shows. What’s so professional about that?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amate...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_S...

[Jayce Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book! I loved reading about the figure skaters! I love Michelle Kwan the most.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very informative. It teaches a lot of the fundamentals of the skating world. Sometimes people turn on their televisions to enjoy quality skating, but they have a hard time listening to the commentators because they only use skating lingo. For those people who don’t want to be in the dark anymore, this is a great book to further your skating knowledge. The only con I have about this book is when it is explaining the judging system; it explains the 6.0 system, not the new system that is in current use.