The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World

by Jocko Weyland

Book Overview

From the hard-ridden half-pipe of a suburban driveway to teens doing boardslides down stairway handrails in Rio de Janeiro, from the bright-light glare of ESPN's X-Games to the groundbreaking street-skating videos of Spike Jonze, skateboarding has taken the world by storm -- and if you can't deal with that, get out of the way. In The Answer Is Never, skating journalist Jocko Weyland tells the rambunctious story of a rebellious sport that began as...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802139450
• ISBN13: 9780802139450
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Literary History of the Sport Lovingly Told

Weyland chronicles the history of the sport from its ancestry in Hawaiian surfing through its recent emergence as a mass-marketed ESPN drawing card. While carefully charting this history, he intersperses lenghty (though riveting) tales from his own experiences growing up as a skater. These tales, which are indicative of how the skating mileau of the time shaped him, are a valuable time capusle to which many readers will relate. He manages to do all of this very artfully so that what seems to be a bi-polar stucture is nearly seamless. Few books measure up to the narrative and literary standards I expect from authors--but this one far surpasses them (a pleasant surprise). Novice skaters and parents who wish to understand skating culture should read this book and also Tony Hawk's Operation: Skateboarder. Both are fast reads (despite their 300+ pagecounts) and demonstrate two contrasting aspects of the sport and the corresponding worldviews engendered therein. Really, it's so good if Weyland waxes poetic on ice fishing I'd have to check it out. Please note that this book is a lot more fun to read than my dull review.

Order this now!

I have a review coming out of this book in my magazine Concrete Wave. I don't want to steal too much from that review, but suffice to say that this book is a work of great signficance. I can only hope that the entire skate community (from EVERY generation) gets a chance to read this bookWell written, well researched and best of all, written by someone who truly knows skateboarding.HIGHLY, highly, recommended.

The Answer is Never

Is Jocko Weyland the John Steinbeck of skateboarding? Who knows. Who cares? What I do know is this is the only book that I couldn't wait to finish in a long time. If you grew up skating at any time in the 60's, 70's and '80's, and are still alive and literate, you MUST read this book. Get ready for all the long-forgotten memories to come rushing back. First skateboard? Check. First set of urethane wheels? Check. First pool ridden? Check. First skatepark? Check. First tail drop? Check. The list goes on and on.....this book will make you remember why you started skating and what a thrill it was and still is for many of us....

yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great book- first -for skaters it offers the first real unglorifed view of a skaters life (in all of its glory)second -for everybody else it offers a view of life intertwined with music and skating subcultures that may be the only real "history" of the actual experience. Not so much "I was there. . I was cool" stuff but the real view that the most people who did this stuff had- which makes it that much more powerful and inspirational. This book is also an important record of pre-MTV life when kids had to find things themselves and subcultures were different from niche markets.Interesting, smart, fun to read. . all around an honest and important book.

An absorbing look at how skateboards change your life

I have just finished the book after an extended sitting (couldn't put it down) and found it to be completely absorbing. I also have skateboarded for 25 years and this book came as close as anything I have ever read to summing up how a piece of wood attached to 4 wheels can completely inform and influence your life, the choices you make, the friends you choose and the way you look at every aspect of the world around you. If you are just getting on board for the first time, or haven't stepped off in 25 years or more, read this book!