The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World
At the beginning of this slim history of skateboarding, the  author makes it clear that his version will be biased,  prejudiced and discriminating.  Weyland has been hooked on  skateboarding for more than 20 years (he is 33 years old),  making objectivity all but impossible. Instead, Weyland has  written what amounts to a love letter to skateboarding and its  culture. He cobbles old articles and reportage from skating  magazines like Skateboarder and Thrasher into a breezy narrative  of the sport from its birth in 1960s California as a way for  surfers to pass the time when the waves were flat to the hugely  popular sport of today, regularly featured on ESPN. Along the  way readers meet legends like the Dogtown Z-Boys (skating  pioneers who were recently the subject of a documentary film),  Steve Caballero and Tony Hawk. But the real strength of this  book comes from the personal experiences he skillfully drops in  the mix. He does a great job explaining how, growing up as an  alienated kid, skating offered him an alternative to  institutionalized jock mentality and its attendant  boorishness.  Through his vivid remembrances, he offers a  glimpse into the rebellious skating culture in the 1980s when it  was still far underground. And while Weyland lapses a bit into  sentimentality over today' s commercialization of the sport, he  always returns to its true spirit. As he writes, It' s slamming  onto cement and getting purple hip contusions that stick to your  pants for weeks, riding on rain-soaked sidewalks and arguing  with old ladies and running from cops.  This is a rallying cry  to true skate punks everywhere. (Sept.) Forecast: Excerpts from the book will appear in skateboarding  magazine Thrasher (circulation of 500,000), which should drive  sales.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.