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46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not for beginners. A cram book for experienced skaters, March 11, 2000
This is NOT a book for the beginners. This book is sort of an exam cram book which is designed for the people who want to pass Inline Skate Exam, if such thing ever exists.Probably most of the techniques in inline skating are described in this book - very succinctly, but to the point. You really have to sit down, and STUDY this book. I skate on ice (since when I was 10), and have been inline-skating for more than 5 years (well, on and off). And I wanted to get the proper techniques of inline skating. Because of my experience, I could study this book, and get the feeling of what it is talking about most of the time, but I wonder whether beginners would have any idea. As noted by other reviewers, this book lacks pictures. Beginners NEED pictures. If this book was titled as "Inline Skate Exam Preparation Summary Book", I would give three or four stars. But since it was titled as "The beginner's guide to in-line skating", I have to give only 1 star. There is no way beginners can learn any skating technique from this book. I know since I have been teaching my kids and my friends how to skate/rollerblade. They need demonstration. They need EASY demonstration. Words alone just don't work for beginners. While there are good succinct descriptions which really get to the point, there are other ridiculous descriptions, like: <Manhole covers and Cattle guards>. Essentially the paragraph was saying, "Avoid them or roll over". I mean, what's the point ? Obviously, you should also avoid hitting against the cars or other bikers on the street. In general, I do NOT think that this is a good book about inline skating, and especially beginners should avoid this book. One day, I went to a used book store, and found this amazing book that other reviewers talked about: "How To Skate" by Inline Skate Magazine. For each technique, it shows at least more than 10 pictures(step-by-step photographs) with four or five paragraphs of explanation. This IS what you (beginners) should buy. Unfortunately, this book won't be available now, since it says "Summer 1995, Display until July 31". The author of this book should actually have had some experience of teaching BEGINNERS how to skate, before they publish a book for them. If they have had, they wouldn't have written this way.
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