Rodney Mullen Book Review

Rodney Mullen Book Review

The main reason I bought this book was to learn more about Mullens actual skateboarding, and in this respect I wasn't let down. There is plenty to inspire here. He would obsessively practice every day, using a stopwatch to time his sessions, and constantly theorise about skateboarding whenever he wasn't actually doing it. He built a fingerboard and miniature ramp setup so he could work out new ways to flip his skateboards at night when he was supposed to be sleeping (something I know well - I've spent many an evening in the pub imagining my cigarette paper packet is a skateboard and visualising tricks with it), and would keep detailed journals chronicalling his thoughts so he could put them into action in his next sessions. Part of every daily session was set aside to concentrate entirely on inventing new tricks. Knowing all this, it's clear to see why he became such a powerful creative force in skateboarding and eventually was crowned 'the godfather of street skating' after inventing pretty much every trick that forms the basis of modern street skateboarding.

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