Customer Reviews

Inside Figure Skating

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Any fan of figure skating photography will certainly enjoy the pictures that grace the pages of this book. Ranging from black and white photos of Tai and Randy at the 1979 Worlds to full-color and almost full-page photos of all the stars of the 1998 Olympic season, this book gets an A+ in the picture department. Fans of figure skating BOOKS, however, will be very disappointed with the rest of the book. Although there are some bright spots in the text (one of which is an excellent review of professional skating from the earlier part of this century to the modern day), most of the book skips between trying to offer a historical perspective and a highly subjective analysis of certain personalities in skating. This latter part is obvious when the author discusses certain skaters -- ones that are obviously disliked in the author's opinion are excessively critiqued (and sometimes even their fans are critiqued for no apparent reason), while other skaters who seem to be favored are only spoken about in a 100% positive light. Some of the captions on the beautiful photos also appear in many places to not be describing the actions and/or events actually going on in the picture. If you are a collector of excellent skating photography and don't mind inconsistent and very subjective writing, buy this book. Otherwise, keep looking for a better, more balanced analysis of this wonderful sport.

The pictures in this book are gloriously rich and beautiful. The cover shot of Michelle Kwan is breathtaking...however, I find it funny how the author uses this lyrical, mesmerizing skater on the cover of this book, and inside uses it's pages to bash her, for some unknown reason. I find this author biased and totally out of the real world in terms of her inferring things about skaters, like how they feel, what they think, etc. This book also contains several factual errors , and mis identified skaters with photos. Very poor detective work on this book. I rate it highly for the pictures. This book would have been a much better picture book, than an informative book. The author's biases and the numerous errors make it a joke as an informative resource. Buy only for the pictures, and then,only on the discount rack.

I bought this book because of the beautiful photo of Ms. Kwan on the cover, and I wish I had saved my money. The book is dreadful. Any educated skating fan will be bored beyond belief at the subjective ramblings in its pages. Unless you are interested in an extremely biased book interspersed often with unsubstantiated arguments for and against certain skaters, I would heartily recommend you pass this one by.

It's a shame that such beautiful pictures are wasted on this book. The author is very unprofessional in displaying her dislikes of certain skaters, especially Paul Wylie. I should note that while I am not a fan of some of the skaters she seem to disfavor, I am very surprised at the poor writing skills and the research she tried to pass off as facts and the disrespectful biases she choose to present as journalism. Very shody work and hopefully the editor will pay more attention next time. Alina Sivorinovsky makes Christine Brennen look legit!

Because of the pictures I agonized whether or not to buy the book and after spending four lunch hours at B. Dalton reading the book, I ultimately decided not to. My score is 5 stars for the pictures and 10 black holes for the text.

This book, while certainly trying its best to present the sport of figure skating in the most comprehensive way possible, covering both the amateur and professional worlds, it falls far too short of any sort of objective, reasonable analysis of the sport. It is too strongly biased towards certain skaters and against other skaters, often with no satisfactory explanation as to why one is preferred and/or better than another. If you are looking for an objective skating sport book, I'd recommend that you pass this one by.

This book is filled with terrific photos -- everything from black and white photos of Tai and Randy in the 1970s to full-color, almost full-page photos of the stars of the 1998 Olympic season. If you are a fan of figure skating photography, you will love the photos in this book. If you are a fan of figure skating BOOKS, however, you will probably end up being very disappointed in this book. While it does have some good points (it goes very in depth on the subject of professional skating, for example), it is far from an unbiased presentation "inside figure skating". The main problem is that it is fairly clear that the author strongly favors some skaters over others, and often excessively critiqued (and put down) other skaters while ignoring any faults of the ones the author seemed to like the best. The author also makes some rather odd comments that seem meant to only upset fans of certain skaters, and didn't seem to make a point at all. For a better skating history book or an "Inside" skating book, I'd recommend Beverly Smith's two books instead: Figure Skating: A Celebration and a Year In Figure Skating, which chronicles the 1995-96 season in objective detail.

Technical Merit 5.5/5.4/5.6/5.5/5.7/5.6/5.6/5.4/5.5
Artistic Merit 5.9/6.0/5.9/5.9/5.9/6.0/5.9/6.0/5.9

Great photography!!! But it for that alone! The writing is decent. I would imagine Kwan fans will not like the treatment she gets in the Nagano section. Alina covers a lot ground in the book. She keps the pace moving. A decent short history of recent skating without the tabloid style of a Christine Brennan. A good addition to the library of any skating fan.

I am a huge fan of figure skating and I have alot of skating books. This one is great. It is loaded with photos AND information. It has chapters on skating's past, where it is going and has info on many recent stars. I loved this book! Very well written and worth every penny. Buy this book if you love skating.