The Complete Book of Figure Skating Paperback – 12 Dec. 2001

A phenomenal source of figure skating knowledge, covering pretty much all basics, edgework, spins and jumps. Mildly outdated as published in early 2000s, but not really in any relevant way. (Eg. claims quint jumps will happen soon.)

I have been a fan of this sport for years, being " an armchair " expert and awarding marks! However, I now know the difference between a Salchow and an Axel, the different edges of spins, and the technical quality needed for a death spiral! The book is very well written, not too difficult to understand, and various famous skaters from the recent past mentioned for their particular expertise. But although the descriptions and photos are very good, I think that a DVD of the actual moves would be easier. I have a DVD of ballet steps, starting with the five positions and advancing to the technical difficulties of arabesques, pirouettes and grand jetes. If a DVD were available to accompany this skating book then it would have had a definite five star rating, but as it is, the static photos merit only four stars.

I pick and read some parts of the book. It is helpful for spectators to understand the sport a bit better. In practice, I had to make up my own exercise routine. The book doesn’t contain any workout to become a figure skater. However, I found the detail of the movements helpful. It gives me some assurance over my understanding of the terminology with watching clips from the Internet.

Last year I started learning to skate with the SkateUK programme. This is definitely the most useful book I bought. Steps to Success is a bit difficult to follow, and hard to dip into at random. Figure Skating (Petkevich) is good, but seems to be aimed at more advanced skaters. This book is ideal for people in their first few years of learning to skate - it's the one I turn to when I can't remember where my feet should go in an open mohawk, or wonder how on earth I'm ever going to get low enough to do a teapot.

Its a fairly well written book about figure skating and one of the best in print. Some small errors are present for the UK reader since the US and UK Skating scene are not the same and dances, jumps etc are sometimes different or called different things.

Very informative and descriptive of the moves, good reference guide for new skaters and older ones alike written in easy to understand language with diagrams.

Had a few quick glances through book, but not yet read properly. Does look very good though and full of lots of interesting information.

MY GRANDDAUGHTER LOVES IT