Skateboarding and surfing are forever linked.
When the waves are flat, many surfers use skateboarding to help improve their surfing.
If you're interested in immersing yourself more in the skateboarding industry and how it has influenced the surfing industry, you can read skateboarding books.
But not just skateboarding books — the best skateboarding books.
In this article, we'll break down the best skateboarding books you can read today to improve your surfing.
The Best Skateboarding Books
Locals Only: California Skateboarding 1975-1978
Featuring more than 120 beautiful color images plus a Q+A format interview with authors, Locals Only is one of the best skateboarding books to read, especially if you're looking for a skateboarding coffee table book.
In this skateboarding book, you'll see skateboarders in the streets of Los Angeles, parts of the San Fernando Valley, Venice Beach, and as far away as San Francisco and Baja California, Mexico.
"With their requisite bleached blonde hair, tanned bodies, tube socks and Vans, these young outsiders are masterfully captured against a sometimes harsh but always sunny Southern California landscape in LOCALS ONLY."
Learn more about this skateboarding book on Amazon.
The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding
A fascinating skateboarding book that traces the development of the sport and its equipment, The Concrete Wave: The History of Skateboarding is the next book on our list of best skateboarding books.
If you're looking to learn more about skateboarding culture at large, this is one the best skateboarding books. It includes profiles and photographs of top-notch skaters through the years through a unique lens.
Learn more about this skateboarding book on Amazon.
The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life
What is skateboarding? What does it mean to continue skateboarding after the age of forty, four decades after the kickflip was invented? How does one live authentically as an adult while staying true to a passion cemented in childhood? How does skateboarding shape one's understanding of contemporary American life? Of growing old and getting married?
The author Kyle Beachy explores all of these important questions and more in this skateboarding book.
"Perfect for fans of Barbarian Days, this memoir in essays follows one man's decade-long quest to uncover the hidden meaning of skateboarding, and explores how this search led unexpectedly to insights on marriage, love, loss, American invention, and growing old."
Learn more about this skateboarding book on Amazon.
The Mutt: How to skateboard and not kill yourself
Written by Rodney Mullen, the world–champion freestyle skateboarder and the man who brought the ollie, to street skating, this skateboarding book explains how his career fits into the history of the sport.
In this skateboarding book, you'll read about his 35 world titles, vert and street styles, the introduction of a new era in street skating, and more.
Learn more about this skateboarding book on Amazon.
Skate the World: Photographing One World of Skateboarding
A collection of the world's greatest professional skateboarders in action.
Do we need to say anything more?
In this skateboarding book, award-winning photographer Jonathan Mehring sets out to capture the heart and soul of skate culture, from New York to Hong Kong to Istanbul and beyond.
Featuring stars like Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, and Eric Koston, this skateboarding book is a thrilling photo adventure on six continents around the world.
"With an adrenaline rush on every page, this book celebrates the joy of skateboarding and its power to inspire young people to overcome obstacles-on the board and off."
Learn more about this skateboarding book on Amazon.
The Bottom Line: The Best Skateboarding Books
There you have it: the best skateboarding books.
Use these books to learn more about the skate culture and how it's influenced our beloved sport of surfing.