The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself – The Youngest World-Champion's Story of 35 Titles, Family Struggle, and Street Revolution

by Rodney Mullen, Sean Mortimer

The world–champion freestyle skateboarder and the man who brought the ollie – the trick that revolutionised the sport by taking it from the ground to the air – to street skating shares the history of skateboarding, as he tells the dramatic story of his life. At the age of 13, Rodney took the freestyle skating world by storm. He won 35 world titles in less than five years. But through it all, his father looked down on his son's love for skating and pressured him to walk away from the sport and leave behind his fans and status as the most famous skateboarder of his era. After years of stress and conflict, Rodney gave in and promised his father he'd quit for good. But by the time he finally broke free from his suffocating and abusive home life, the popularity of freestyle had waned and given way to vert and street styles. So Rodney picked up his board and started from scratch. With the help of mentor Mike Ternansky, Rodney used his freestyle background to usher in a whole new era of street skating. Today Rodney is more popular than ever. The videos in his series Rodney Versus Daewon are among the most popular skateboard videos ever produced. He won the 2002 Transworld Skateboarding readers' choice award for favourite street skater and is the most popular character on the top–selling Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video games.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Sports, Memoir, Teen, Autobiography

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2004

Reviews

[Ultan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great biography and I was very surprised at the brutal honesty in this book. Rodney Mullen recalls some of the most intimate details of his life and tells them with such honesty and detail. Rodney Mullen discuses everything from his childhood to how he became a pro-skater and includes an awful lot of details and he has no fear in describing his family, relationships and his own insecurities. This is an awesome book to read even if you aren't interested in skating as it is really inspiring to see how far practice and passion can take you.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great book. read it cover to cover in one day, By far the most influential skater of all time. He basically invented every street trick you could think of. ollie, Kickflip etc Was really cool to read about his career which is basically the history of skateboarding. the discipline it took him to push the sport the way he did, and he did not have an easy life either. Basically was somewhat involved with every cool company in the nineties, and even though he talked shit about his skating ability in plan B questionable, it stands out in my memory as one of the most inspirational video sections i can remember. He always felt like an outcast in the industry too? He is a normal guy and im not sure if skating would exist the way it is without him.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in a skateboarding mood one day when I was in a big box book shop, I browsed the titles in the "Sports" section and came across this.

I was never a fan of Rodney Mullen when I skated, I too, like it is state in this book... thought Freestyle skating was lame, and that Rodney Mullen was lame. Ah, the opinions of a 2nd grader!

I picked this book up based on that fact that the cover art looked awesome and I needed something to whet my skating appetite without me actually having to dust the cob weds off of my board and embarrass myself at the skatepark.

What a treat. I had no idea that Rodney Mullen was such a rocket scientist! The way he described skateboarding and he he came about tricks and the enjoyment of skating, through math and science, is incredibly refreshing rather than hearing about a teen that just wants to rebel and be "extreme".

The personal battles that are detailed in print with this book are things that I never would have imagined given how quiet and reserved Mr. Mullen always seemed in his video parts in skate videos my friends and I would watch.

If you are into sociology, you will dig this.
If you work with kids, you will dig this.
If you are into skateboarding, you will dig this.

For someone not into many or any of those things some of the lingo in this book may be confusing, thus ruining your enjoyment of the book, but if you are a skateboarder, know a skateboarder, or parent a skateboarder, you should def. read this. It will instill you such a great understanding of all the reasons WHY a person would rather ride their skateboard than do more "serious" sports.

I think for a lot of parents this book might ease some of their concerns that, by skating, their child is going to be "dumbed down" or "miss out" on things in life.

Check it out! It's awesome, and even has a cool photo section.

[ZB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspirational, heartfelt and fascinating story about the grandfather of street skating. I'd reccommend it to anyone interested in the history of skating and espcially in the life of Rodney Mullen. Makes you wanna jump on your skateboard and rip a local hill.

[Javier Rivero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never thought a skateboarder could write like this. Breathtakingly good story

[Angelino Desmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just kept on reading. His life was surprisingly different as I thought it would be. Judging by the title, skateboarding might seem like the sole linear storyline, but it's filled with unexpected experiences both enlightening for himself and the reader. Nothing is what it seems; nobody has life figured out. Least of all those who you think have had it all figured out from day one.

[Andrea Janov · Rating 4 out of 5]

My high school boyfriend and friends skated. Skateboarders had the same status as the guys in the bands we loved. So I grew up knowing names of skateboarders without really having a ton of context into what made anyone different from anyone else. But then, as an adult I would watch documentaries of the 80s and 90s era of skateboarding and became slightly obsessed with Rodney Mullen. His insights and the careful way he spoke a presented though insight made me pay closer attention. He spoke so eloquently yet cut straight to the heart of whatever topic he was speaking out. A personal bias of mine is, I love when punks and skaters are intelligent and speak for the rest of the community. The Mutt shared Mullen's story, struggles, and roller coaster of a career, yet it was the last chapter, when he revisits his small town, where those struggles and career started and reflects that really kicks you in the gut and his voice comes through.

[Lachlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4 1/3 stars) an amazing inspiring story filled with passion and brutal honesty. It demonstrated how passion trumps all, it seemed like everything in the world was standing in between rodney and skateboarding yet he still made his living off of it even when no one was doing so at the time, he carved his own path in life and a path for everyone in skateboarding. The only biography I have read at this moment of time and I loved it.

[Leetje AKA het Leesbeest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deze was erg leuk! Aanrader voor iedereen die een interesse heeft in dingen

[Travis Dube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mullen, Rodney, and Sean Mortimer. The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself. Harper Collins, 2004, p.276.

Rodney Mullen’s “The Mutt” is an autobiography of the professional skaters early life and goes all throughout his childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. Rodney Mullen is the father of street skating as he invented the Ollie, kickflip, treflip, and many more tricks. What he did had never been seen before as skating during these times was all transition and the only way to get your board in the air was going off of a ramp. Rodney revolutionized the skateboarding world. In this book Rodney captures his struggles of growing up and never fitting in with the rest of the world. Rodney didn’t speak until he was 4 and struggled with school and suffered mild depression at an early age. This all changed when he got his first skateboard. “I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual; there were no teams, there were no captains, there was nothing to perfect. No style that had to be measured. It was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports. It was creative. And to this day, that's what I love, that's always kept me back to it because it's an endless creation.”. Rodney used skating to express himself and show his individuality and creativity, which is something that is often overlooked in skateboarding. This can range from what you wear, how you execute your tricks, and most importantly for Rodney it would be making new tricks.

Rodneys main purpose in writing this book is to show his story behind his success and the challenges he faced to get where he is now. The ups and downs of life in general makes this a very relatable book whether you skate or you’ve never touched a skateboard. I would still recommend this book to anybody. Rodney addresses his mental health through certain time period of his life and how he coped with these emotions and problems that were constantly thrown at him. Most of his mental health problems stemmed from everyone else’s expectations of him winning freestyle competitions, which he said ruined the beauty of skateboarding for him because he didn’t ever do it for fame or profit but merely just for his love of his craft. Rodney won 34 out of 35 freestyle competitions he won, which to this day is the most successful competitive run in all of skating history. “I defended my world title over 35 times, and I recall being genuinely happy about it only twice. The rest were hollow victories tainted by playing it safe," admitted Mulled in 1999. With that being said you can see the immense amount of pressure he must have felt to satisfy the needs of his fans and his sheer drive and determination to perfect and master every single trick. He would practice for hours perfecting one trick at a time. He even stated how when he couldn’t sleep he would sneak out and go skate because he was so motivated to learn something new, or make something new, and just perfecting his craft to the best of his ability.

For me this book was a great real life example of how you should never give up on your dreams and that you can do whatever you put your mind to if you just put in the time and effort to get there. From my interpretation that would be the main theme of this book. Rodney’s dad was a dentist and was a very successful man. When Rodney was young he found his interest in skateboarding through a couple of his friends who were way older than him. During this time Rodney was at one of his lowest points in his life and talked about how he would always constantly smoke weed to run from his problems which as we all know is one of the worst things you could do when you are depressed or sad or feeling empty. Rodney begged his parents to let him get a skateboard but they wouldn’t allow it as he didn’t want his son to skate because it was too dangerous. Rodney promised his father if he got hurt he would stop. On January first 1977, Rodneys dad caved in and got him his first board. Throughout the book and his life his father and him would have many fights about him being allowed to skateboard and when freestyle skating died down Rodney was forced to have a normal life and work a normal desk job which was his one of his biggest fears. This was after he had been a world champion of all these competitions and then just seemed to be a regular everyday guy. At this point in his career his mental health was rapidly declining bringing him to have suicidal thoughts and not wanting to keep going. Basically in reading someone else’s struggles with finding happiness and mental health challenges it was honestly very very reliving to read and almost felt as if this whole book was a one on one conversation with Rodney himself. It also was very inspiring on how he saved his career by trying things that had never been done and ultimately changing skateboarding forever. Addressing the challenges of growing up, mental health/depression, and skateboarding I don’t think there could be a better book for someone like me to read.
This book is nonfiction but hearing some of Rodney’s stories it almost seemed like fiction. He captivates the reader by occasionally having an image of various time periods of his career which makes this book also seem like a time capsule and watching someone grow up in front of your eyes. I think that Rodney did a great job touching on every single aspect of his life with the perfect amount of detail. Everything was very well paced and there was never any unnecessary rambling or dragging on, every single detail and moment provided in this novel fits perfectly into these glorious 276 pages. This story was told in first person which was also very captivating as you can see his thought process when he was competing or street skating. While some of the thoughts that were in the book and might be fictitious it adds to the overall story and makes Rodney as a storyteller much more personable.

I could confidently recommend this book to anybody who skates or has skateboarded. Any teenager (especially boys/ young men) as mens mental health is often overlooked and not addressed at all in any media or movies or novels. With Rodney being a real person it makes this story much more valuable than a fictional character who while you still feel for them it’s still not going to be as vivid as an actual story of someone who experienced these things. This book was an outstanding piece of literature and is one of my favorite books that I have ever read.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy geez, what an emotional roller coaster.

Throughout this book, we get to see skateboarding's evolution from freestyle to modern day street skating through the eyes of someone at the center of it all. However, this book is not about the technical progression of tricks; rather, it is about the personal hardships Mullen faced throughout his life and the social dynamics within the industry. It was honestly mind-blowing to see just how many big-name skaters ended up crossing each other's paths at key points in time and who started what companies.

While this skateboarding history was super interesting to read about (like, how have I gone so many years without knowing that Mullen co-founded World Industries?), the main focus of this book was on Mullen's life (duh!). And I was not at all prepared for how heart-wrenching it would be to read about it. There is something so relatable about the loneliness he felt, about not thinking he was good enough, about wanting to retreat into himself all the while wanting to feel more connected to the universe. Mullen lets us in on the details of these struggles, and over a long journey we see how he was able to overcome many of them after hitting rock bottom several times.

[Bryant H Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly an inspiration read coming from the best skateboarder of all time. Though, it is a skateboarding book, it also as much a story of a father and a son, family dynamics, and the internal struggle to keep going in the constant face of opposition.

It was difficult to put down and frequently caused me to take pause and think of my sons, what they’re learning, how they’re encouraged, and how to be a better father.

If you skate or skated, you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re a father, you’ll be challenged by the book. If you find yourself struggling, you be encouraged by the words in this book.

Upon completing the book, I sat down with my son and we watched Mullen’s Globe video part from early 2000’s. His response to video was “What!?” It’s the same feeling most people get from watching Rodney Mullen and that I experienced while read the book.

[Lyndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the book. Its about a misfit boy who grows up to be a professional skateboarder.

[Seraveza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgia at its finest. Rod is God.

[Jaimie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still not a skateboarder. Still haven’t set foot in my (new) town’s skate shop. But still reading skate books/memoirs and revelling in the random truisms that they seem to reveal. (Levelling up side note: my new digs have a lovely waxed curb thanks to the previous tenants, and some choice smoothed pavement/asphalt, so the temptation to pick up a board looms slightly louder). Rodney Mullen is undoubtedly one of the godfathers of modern skate, so it seemed appropriate to pick up his autobiography when the seasonal call of the city’s concrete began to echo. Unlike Mullen, I have zero interest in even the potential of smashing my teeth in, popping an ankle, or amassing a collection of scrapes and bruises, but his love (or obsession) with the sport is clear from the first push and is totally endearing. Growing up in a challenging environment seems to be a common thread that seems to push many skateboarders to adopt the rebellious lifestyle, but Mullen seems to stand a bit to the left of this expectation; sure, his father wasn’t a fan and put some heavy handed roadblocks up along the way, but the son he raised was too busy trying to perfect his next trick and push himself to the limit to get up to the expected shenanigans of some of his classmates. Overall, we get the feeling that Mullen is a strange, but sweet hearted, weirdo who is driven by the same determination and creativity that runs in his genes. His story is definitely a compelling one, even though it lacks the shock factor that defines some of skateboarding’s more colourful escapades, and I can tell that the book itself gets a certain amount of narrative polish from the skills of his coauthor Sean Mortimer. If left to his own devices, Mullen’s rambles would have run off the page and into another dimension (I mean, have you seen the guy speak? He’s brilliant, but anything but linear); as entertaining as it may have been to watch him wax eloquent about God, the poetics of skate, and lessons from his childhood neuroses, I’m glad we got a storyarc instead that drew a (relatively straight) line from oddball kid to the skateboarder credited with building the sport into what it is today.

[Geo Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself, Rodney Mullen wrote an autobiography and goes in depth into his family life, undefeated past in contest, and his transition into adulthood which coincided with the rise of street skateboarding. This is a great book and as the reader the book taught me that no matter how bad things may seem, you can always do something to make things better. Some of the literary techniques used in this story include imagery, and metaphors.
Imagery is used all throughout the book, one of the best examples is on page 134 when Mullen states “when i stop its all over. I tucked tighter to increase my spin. My mind was spinning out of control, my skateboard life flashing before my eyes- all that time in my garage, at the skatepark, on the road with Barry eating peanut butter and crackers with his dog, messing around with Steve, taking to Mrs. Hawk, Stacy’s laughter, my first board, trying to stand on Jack’s old Bonzai. When my wheels touched the ground all the memories slammed to a jarring stop, and the outside world rushed at me like a flood.” This was at the end of Mullen’s last contest, when he thought he would never be allowed to skateboard again. As a skateboarder, this little excerpt from the story really gets you thinking, and helps you realise how many memories are made on a skateboard. As I read this, memories of my past in skateboarding ran through my head and it put me in a new place.
Mullen used a metaphor when describing how his father when when raising Rodney. On page 16 Mullen states “my father is a drill sergeant” comparing him to somebody training people to become soldiers. This statement shows that Rodney Mullen was raised with a very strict and to-the-point father that had good intentions of raising him to the best man he can be, but could be too strict for a child sometimes.
I think this book was very good, and would recommend this to anybody that enjoys the book Yesterday Erased, stories that show coming-of-age, or fans of skateboard magazines or the movie Plan B: Questionable.

[Brian Soetaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hit a bit of a skateboarding phase this year, and wanted to learn from one of the greats... and you can't get much greater than the godfather of street. Rodney Mullen has always been fascinating to me. His video parts were weird and unique - it's hard not to be when you have invented half the tricks you're doing at any given time. Having only followed his career from a purely skateboarding perspective, I wanted to take some time to dig deeper into the person behind the tricks. What I got was more than I could have imagined, and inspired me on more grounds that just skateboarding itself. This guy became a millionaire off of some really, really stressful business decisions, had bouts of depression that had him almost take his own life halfway across the world, and constantly dealt with a father that would be hard to describe without the word "abusive" sprinkled in here and there. All the while, he was changing the face of how people went about riding a plank of wood with four polyurethane wheels. Even if you are not a skateboarding fan, this is a worth while read if you choose to give it the time of day.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three months ago, I didn't know Rodney Mullen existed. I first saw him in Tony Hawk : Until The Wheels Fall Off documentary and became slightly obsessed with him. I was always fascinated with skateboarders in general, but it was the first time I met one who I felt a sense of kinship to.

If you're looking for a book where Mullen shares his philosophy of skateboarding, this is not what you want. It's very much his life story, which is punctuated (here's where the sense of kinship kicks in) by a troublesome relationship to his father. Whether he is positive or negative about someone and whether that person is close to him or not, Rodney Mullen speaks from the heart, with a disquieting earnestness. You can almost hear him talk when reading the words.

The Mutt is the story of someone who bears magic within and who doesn't realize it because he is constantly reprimanded for not being someone else. It's great and it should help you realize that if you feel inadequate in a situation, it doesn't mean that you're inadequate. Context and circumstances and everything in life. Rodney Mullen found is, I found mine, you can find yours.

[DoctorWhosUrDaddy89 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son has recently become obsessed with skateboarding (thanks to the re-release of THPS on the switch). We watched the Bones Brigade autobiography documentary as well as the Pretending I’m a Superman documentary about how the Proskater game came to be. My son really likes Rodney Mullen, who was featured in both so I looked to see if I could find anything else for my son to read or watch with him in it. Rodney is a pretty great role model (especially in terms of pro skate boarders), but I’m glad I decided to read this book WITH my son instead of just handing it off to him.

It’s an amazing book, very honest, and very inspiring in that Rodney is not exactly the type of person you’d expect to find at the top of his field. I’m sure most people won’t be handing this book to an 8 year old (my son), but in case you are, the book does contain drug use, sexual references, and talk of death and suicide.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

as a kid i feel like i watched Rodney Mullen's video on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 quite literally a hundred times

i was so enthralled with how unique his style and tricks seemed compared to the other skaters. i later found out a bit about the whole flatland/freestyle background and how he invented a lot of the tricks commonplace today, like the kickflip. it was really cool to read through his lens about the history of skating from the Stacy Peralta days where it was more surf-y right up modern day (well ~2004) where street skating is on top and the evolution it took to get there

also it's v On Brand for me that my favorite skater is the biggest nerd of the bunch lol

[Evin Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had waited to read this book for years, because Rodney Mullen is my all-time favorite skateboarder. Although I knew snippets of his story, this book did a deep dive into how he got his start in the business and covered his various business ventures over the years. I related strongly to his fatherly struggles in his teenage years and with his social anxiety (at least through my elementary/high school tenure). I had numerous flashbacks while reading this book and it reminded me of my time skating through the late 90s and early 2000s. I highly recommend this book if you have any interest in early era skating or Rodney Mullen in general. An easy five stars and probably one of the best books. I’ve read this year.

[Rob Erekson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unexpected charming book. Growing up as a “skater” in the late 90s, I knew who Rodney Mullen was and was in awe of the crazy tricks he was able to do. I had no idea until recently that he was responsible for inventing the core tricks that street skating was built on (the ollie, kickflip, etc.), nor did I know of his past as a champion freestyle skater. But what surprised me the most about this book is how natural and human he comes across, even with his social eccentricities and issues he had with his father growing up. This was a very fun and informative read that I’d recommend to anybody that skated in the 89s, 90s, and 00s.

[Seth McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book from one of the greatest skateboarders of all time. When frequently choosing to play as Rodney Mullen in Tony Hawks Pro Skater (THPS) as an angsty teen, I was completely unaware of all the struggles and hardships he endured growing up. From an abusive father to the death of freestyle skateboarding which he spent countless hours practicing, he continually kept his passion for skateboarding alive and refused to quit. Rodney is an inspiration and I can’t wait to play as him again in the remastered THPS’s that come out soon this year!

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Rodney Mullen ever since a friend showed me one of his plan B videos when I was 12 or 13. I still skate on a set of Tensor trucks and have a DVD copy of Round 2 so I may be biased but its a great book and I recommend it to any fan of Mullen and/or skateboarding. Its also good for anyone thats going through struggles in life and just needs to see that others struggle to. The not kill yourself part of the title doesn't have anything to do with skateboarding or at least it seems that way to me.

[Fahed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rodney Mullen will likely go down as the greatest mind in all of skateboarding, with a unique approach to skating he brought modern street skating to what it is now. The most interestong idea in his book is how he atttibutes all his success to being isolated. A complete intovert living in a stranded farm in florida with just flat ground allowed Rodney to shatter the barrier of what we thought was possible with a block of wood and some wheels at our feet. A great biohraphy on one of the greatest skateboarders of all time.

[Shona Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I even start. This book changed my life. I didn't want it to end, it provided endless sources of wisdom and delight, as well as harrowing stories about abuse, fear and imposter syndrome. Rodney Mullen is a hero of mine and this book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I m so profoundly thankful for Rodney and all he has done with his time on this earth. This book will be one I return to many times for years to come.

[Matthias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rodney Mullen hatte mich schon immer in Interviews begeistert, aber ich habe erst spät von dieser Biografie erfahren. Hier wird seine Entwicklung im Leben und Sport sehr anschaulich und verständlich erklärt. Auch wenn man kein Skateboarder ist, kann dieses Buch inspirieren und Einblicke in eine andere Zeit liefern. Je näher ich dem Ende kam, desto trauriger wurde ich, dass es keine anderen Bücher von ihm gibt.
Klare Empfehlung.

[Diego Atterbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun read. To begin with I didn’t know anything about skating and still don’t. Shows how captivating the book is. Very biographical. Not sporting specific, which for me, was good. What I do know, post read, is that Rod seems a great bloke. Humble, well raised and very loyal to those around him. I loved this book. Well written and expertly curated with visual inclusions alongside short chapters. Smartly done. Cheers Rod for the read.

[Paul Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone that has ever skated would know who Rodney is. This book is a great insight into the life of an eccentric but brilliant man and to most the greatest skater ever. I have always appreciated Rodneys different character to the usual skater but this book just makes you appreciate him and everything he has done for the sport even more. A brilliant read for anyone especially skaters

[Asher Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was amazing and personally helped me with my skateboarding. it also helped me with being able to be myself and being able to hear some of the stories and stuff that he went through, which helped me in my own life. it helped me in school, with friends, and even with my family. the book is very well written and can impact you in interesting ways.