He went pro at the age of 12; is credited with inventing nearly 80 tricks; won 73 contests in the course of his career; started his own (now multi-million dollar) company in 1992; had a PlayStation game named after him; reportedly rakes in over $1 million a year in endorsements (from The Gap, to Mountain Dew, to the "Got Milk?" campaigns); and during the 1999 X-Games, became the first man ever to land the 900° (that's a 900 degree aerial spin on a vertical ramp…I did my homework). As if this weren't enough, Tony Hawk can now add author to his already ridiculously long list of accomplishments.

With the help of Sean Mortimer, Transworld Skateboarding magazine contributor and editor of Monsterskate.com, Mr. "Michael Jordan of Skateboarding" Hawk has penned his autobiography. HAWK: OCCUPATION: SKATEBOARDER is an homage to the joys of trick invention and perfection, the hilariously horrendous skater haircuts and fashion disasters of the '80's, the California skate scene, video-game playing, scab collecting, broken bones, his parents for putting up with a whiny, hyperactive, skate-obsessed spoiled-brat, his wife for putting up with a man who called the day he landed the 900° "the happiest day of [his] life" (as opposed to, say, their wedding day, or the birth of their child), and, above all, the sport (in case you got lost somewhere along the way, the sport we're talking about here is skateboarding) that made him a living legend by age of 31.

So, if you're a freakily fanatic Tony Hawk worshipper (which would put you in the company of like a billion other people out there), or even just hoping to pick up some skateboarding lingo to impress that adorably spastic skater-boy who's always falling off railings and curbs in the park (not that I have ever done that), you may want to roll on over (Ha! Get my joke?!) to the bookstore and get yourself a copy of HAWK: OCCUPATION: SKATEBOARDER.

--- Reviewed by Becki Summers

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