| Title | : | The A to Z of Skateboarding |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1783526726 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781783526727 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 115 |
| Publication | : | First published July 13, 2019 |
For more than twenty years I have been mistaken for Tony Hawk, the American skateboarder. Unfortunately for me, Tony Hawk chose to name all his skateboarding computer games after him, so they were called things like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The reason why this is unfortunate is because it seems that young American skateboarders have failed to grasp the concept of an apostrophe* and even though it is abundantly clear on my web-site that I am an English comedian and author, they still write to me asking me questions like ‘How do you do a 900’ or ‘an Ollie’? A while back I grew tired of this, and one mischievous day I decided to starting writing back to these skateboarding enthusiasts. And I began to enjoy it. I began to publish the best of these replies on my web-site and I soon had people writing to me tell me how these mails had them crying with laughter. I now have hundreds of e mails to which I have replied, employing a pompous, serious tone, goading my correspondents for their spelling mistakes and poor grammar, whilst offering bogus or downright silly advice on how to improve their skateboarding. These ‘skatemails’ would appear alongside an equally silly and disrespectful A-Z guide to the world of skateboarding, as seen through the eyes of someone who knows absolutely nothing about it.
I see this as being a great gift book – or one that can sit on the shelf in the loo and provide the kind of unbridled laughter that could greatly assist the constipated. There – that’s my gift to society. It would also make a wonderful Christmas present to any parent who has a child who is a mad keen skateboarder…
I should also add that all my profits for this new book will be donated to my charity - The Tony Hawks Centre - which offers free health care to chronically ill children in Moldova.
The A to Z of Skateboarding Reviews
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https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...
This was a really easy book to read and I did find myself laughing more than once, I liked the punchy chapters and the length of them was perfect.
The author's writing style was great and I do get where the author was coming from and I can only imagine what it would be like to receive the fan mail of someone else over and over again, I imagine after a while it must really start to get on your nerves (being nice and polite there!)!
Four stars from me for this one, an easy read to book that gave me more than a few giggles and the money from the book sales being donated to charity is a brilliant touch - a highly recommended bit of good fun! -
For two decades of his life, Tony Hawkes has been mistaken for the pro skateboarder
Tony Hawk. It wasn't helped when the American released his first video game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and that tiny punctuation mark suddenly meant that the visitors to Tony Hawks'
website increased dramatically. Even though he has tried to make it abundantly clear that he is not a skateboarder, rather an author, a BBC Radio 4 star and comedian, he has received countless messages from excited fans.
To begin with, the deleted button was used a lot, but after a while, his twisted sense of humour gave him the idea to actually answer these messages from the fans of the other Tony. So began a series of cheeky, or in reality, fairly thinly veiled sarcasm, he replies back to these messages. And they are
hilarious .
As he knows almost nothing about skateboarding, he thought he would share his extensive knowledge in this A to Z of the sport. So if you had no idea what a kickflip was, or always wondered about why anyone would want to count to
900 then this is the book for you. If you had come across his other books, then you'll probably guess, this is full of very much tongue in cheek humour. Completely daft and thoroughly enjoyable. Possibly not one for the skateboarder in your life… I should also add that all the profits for this book will be donated to his charity - The Tony Hawks Centre - which offers free health care to chronically ill children in Moldova. -
The only time I have ever tried to ride a skateboard I ended up on my ass, with owner of said skateboard pointing and laughing. Prick.
While I still harbour some notion (and obviously some resentment) that one day I might learn to ride a skateboard, I am now 34, so that notion probably deserves to go on the shelf with my goals of winning the world cup (despite rarely playing football) and recording a smash hit single that sells so much that I get to live a life akin to Will in About A Boy (Played by Hugh Grant in the film), despite having the musical talent of a constipated otter.
Anyway...moving swiftly along to the book
This book essentially does exactly what it says on the tin. People who were silly enough to confuse Tony Hawks with legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk have been sending him emails for years asking for tips on skateboarding. It only took a matter of time before the comedian started replying.
While I wouldn't normally be in favour of this approach, after reading a couple of the questions that the book contained, it was hard to say that at least some of the people who sent questions did not deserve the response they received.
I especially liked the factoids scattered throughout the book - and the authors tongue in cheek response to them.
Overall, while I didn't find every section of this book to be perfect, there were many sections that made me belly laugh.A great pick me up, especially after being harassed by some "punk kids" in the car park.
The length of this one, coupled with the writing style make this a perfect book for dipping in and out of. Deserves to take a place on your coffee table or, dare I say it, your bathroom book shelf ;-). Recommended.
For more of my reviews visit
Don Jimmy Reviews -
This was not the book I backed to begin with. That was another travel/mid-life adventure involving Ireland and a fridge. But that never got made. Instead the project switched to this smaller, novelty book. I continued my backing because I own and enjoy all his previous books. This one did indeed raise several laughs but I didn’t feel it was something he was committed to, rather something that had to be done having agreed to produce something for Unbound. But as ever my usual caveat, it’s better than anything I’ve ever written & gotten published!
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I was a fan of Tony Hawks before I read this book, but this has made me appreciate his humour even more.
As a result of being mistaken for Tony Hawk, Tony Hawks now has a strong dislike for anything skateboarding related. This book contains his thoughts on the past time in alphabetical order, along with skateboarding facts. It also contains some of the letters he has received from skateboarding fans and his hilarious replies to them.
If you are a fan like me or just want a good laugh, then you’ll enjoy this book. -
Reflections and lessons learned:
I’m hoping that the reply received was real, as it’s the perfect summary - mischievous! I’m also hoping that 20% of the correspondents went on to study the back catalogue of Hawks and are now familiar with stammering issues in the eighties, and the public transport/good will of Ireland in the nineties.
Worried follow on thought - If Chris de Burgh did split up, wouldn’t we then have two possible people touring and performing Lady in Red on the One Show though...? -
I can relate, to a small degree, to the author's problem. There is another Amy Smith in the town where I live and directory assistance used to route the collect calls she was getting from jail to me. Although they made for interesting stories, the messages on my voicemail were somewhat disturbing and often annoying. Thankfully, even though my name is common, I don't share it with a celebrity.
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This was good fun. The Tony Hawk (boarder)/Tony Hawks (comedian) thing seems to have been going on for a while now and now comedian Tony has moved it up a gear. This is a rather silly book but it made me chuckle a lot. Great fun
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Read this on a slow Sunday. I have read all of Tony Hawks books and, although different, this one is just as funny. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when some of these people got their email replies.
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A lot of fun for a little book, in many ways pointless, but for a good cause!
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This book will take pride of place in my downstairs loo.
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A breezy, awkward but hilarious short book about skateboards from the internet's premier skateboardsman.
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I didn't realize it wasn't the skater until after I finished it
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Oh dear Tony
I love reading the Tony Hawks books as they have always made me laugh a lot, but this one I'm afraid is not anywhere near as good as previous ones. Such a shame as he is such a funny person.
