The Impossible aims to get skateboarding right. Journalist Cole Louison gets inside the history, culture, and major personalities of skating.
The Impossible
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Review
"GQ researcher Cole Louison gave himself an impossible assignment: to write the complete history of a sport without it reading like a dusty encyclopedia or self-promotional wiki page. And make it interesting to an audience of people who don't really care about that sport (while not losing the millions of potential readers who do). Plus explain what an 'ollie' is.... [H]e's accomplished just that." —GQ
"Louison is both booster and critic, and writes with an eye to contradictions—skateboarding is a loner sport with a strong community, an outlaw pastime with big-money corporate backing—and gets to the heart of an often misunderstood pursuit." —The New Yorker
"Louison . . . has a light reportorial touch, a sense of the absurd and a sincere, affable persona…. [He] has turned his attention to the skateboarding world—a milieu that suffers no shortage of absurd, and absurdly talented, characters…. Through Louison’s eyes we see a once small subculture, now thoroughly colonized by mainstream media, public relations personnel, and other non-skate actors…. That Louison is able to successfully convey the excitement of skateboarding to the layman without offending the connoisseur is a testament to his well-researched grasp of a sometimes opaque subject." —McSweeney's Internet Tendency
From the Back Cover
Skateboarding: the background, technicality, culture, rebellion, marketing, conflict, and future of the global sport as seen through two of its most influential geniuses
Since it all began half a century ago, skateboarding has come to mystify some and to mesmerize many, including its tens of millions of adherents throughout America and the world. And yet, as ubiquitous as it is today, its origins, manners, and methods are little understood.
The Impossible aims to get skateboarding right. Journalist Cole Louison gets inside the history, culture, and major personalities of skating. He does solargely by recounting the careers of the sport’s Yoda—Rodney Mullen, who, in his mid-forties, remains the greatest skateboarder in the world, the godfather of all modern skateboarding tricks—and its Luke Skywalker—Ryan Sheckler, who became its youngest pro athlete and a celebrity at thirteen. The story begins in the 1960s, when the first boards made their way to land in the form of off-season surfing in southern California. It then follows the sport’s spikes, plateaus, and drops—including its billion-dollar apparel industry and its connection with art, fashion, and music.
In The Impossible, we come to know intimately not only skateboarding, but also two very different, equally fascinating geniuses who have shaped the sport more than anyone else.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Dan M
Format:Paperback
This guy does not know what he's talking about. Early on, he describes landing "bolts" as landing with all four wheels on the ground. Huh? Landing on all four wheels is the norm, not a challenge, and landing "bolts" means (as you might imagine) landing with your feet On The Bolts. From there, the author continues to fill the book with so many errors and inaccurate descriptions that I had to stop reading. Was there any fact-checking or copy-editing done? To top it off, he then claims that the film "Dogtown and Z-Boys" made a major error. So I'm supposed to believe a writer who has established absolutely no credibility for himself over the people who were actually there? I don't think so.
Fortunately, there are lots of good books on skating that you could read instead of this one, like Stalefish, The Answer is Never, Concrete Wave, or the autobiographies by Rodney Mullen and Tony Hawk.
Fortunately, there are lots of good books on skating that you could read instead of this one, like Stalefish, The Answer is Never, Concrete Wave, or the autobiographies by Rodney Mullen and Tony Hawk.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book spins an intriguing tale and covers a lot of ground. Fans of Rodney Mullen will not be disappointed...same goes with Ryan Sheckler.
There are a few glaring errors (Eric Desden?!), but despite these, the book is a very comprehensive look at something I've enjoyed for almost 4 decades: skateboarding.
I'd would have loved to have seen some images, but what can you do.
There are a few glaring errors (Eric Desden?!), but despite these, the book is a very comprehensive look at something I've enjoyed for almost 4 decades: skateboarding.
I'd would have loved to have seen some images, but what can you do.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Cole Louison has a unique writing style. He creatively captures details in a simple, yet perfect way and has a prose-like tune to his work. It's easy to follow and fun to read. It's always enjoyable reading Cole's stuff! I got a glimpse with this: [...]. It's about time a good book came out about a sport that has experienced many attitudes and created it's own cultures throughout the years.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and well-written account of the mind of a creative pioneer,...
I really, really enjoyed Cole Louison's THE IMPOSSIBLE--it made the perfect companion piece to my post- and pre-workday skate sessions. Read more
Published 13 hours ago by pr0saic
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good
I like this book cuz it tells a lot about skating.also I have seen videos with Rodney skating.the dude is gnarly
Published 4 months ago by Kristen
