The Most Fun Thing

“As readable as a skate mag and as complex as the best fiction, The Most Fun Thing imbricates themes of meaning, community, and the soul, and will leave you marveling at skateboarding’s mystery and hopeful for its future. A book as much for the skateboarder as the artist and the writer, the thinker, the feeler.”–Mark Suciu, Thrasher Magazine’s 2021 Skater of the Year“In The Most Fun Thing, Kyle Beachy assembles critique, philosophy, anecdote, personal history and imagination, while being shrewd, witty, provocative and–above all–hugely engaging. This is my new favorite book on skateboarding.”–Iain Borden, author of Skateboarding and the City: A Complete History“The year 2021 is the year of skateboarding. The ‘rebel’ pursuit was transformed into an Olympic sport. Thrasher magazine, skateboarding’s bible, turned 40. So The Most Fun Thing couldn’t have come at a better time [to] ponder the meaning of skateboarding.”–NPR“The Most Fun Thing mines the value and ritual of fun… [Beachy’s] encyclopedic knowledge of skate ‘parts’ (a.k.a., films), bios, technicalities, even feuds, rolls into contemplations of Marilynne Robinson or Maggie Nelson… the book is grounded in memoir, vulnerable and direct, and often a stage for Kyle’s wit. The text can rollick… [Beachy] is now a premier chronicler of skateboarding.”–Odie Lindsey, Southwest Review“Philosophical and provocative.”–Booklist“Transform[s] the ordinary into the extraordinary… . Beachy has written a book about skateboarding unlike any before it.”–The Chicago Reader“A rewarding read even–or especially–for those of us who don’t know anything about skateboarding…. with a keen eye for nuance and an unflinching critical lens that’s as apt to magnify moments of intense beauty as to call bullsh*t on this lifelong obsession… Endlessly relevant.”–Holly M. Wendt, The Rumpus

“With the studied curiosity he’s established as a writer and critic, Beachy applies his honest, thoughtful prose to a wealth of seemingly disparate genres, binding them to create a work equal parts lively and insightful, intimate and universal, something his very own.”

Kyle Beachy’s first novel, The Slide (Dial Press, 2009), won The Chicago Reader’s Best Book by a Chicago Author reader’s choice award for the year. His short fiction has appeared in journals including Fanzine, Pank, Hobart, Juked, The Collagist, 5 Chapters, and others. His writing on skateboarding has appeared in The Point, The American Reader, The Chicagoan, Free Skateboard Magazine (UK & Europe), The Skateboard Mag (US), Jenkem, Deadspin, and The Classical. He teaches at Roosevelt University in Chicago and is a co-host on the skateboarding podcast Vent City with pro skater Ryan Lay and others.