Sean Mortimer

The ultimate guide to recognizing untapped potential by celebrating imperfection. Learn to take the path less travelled with direction from misfit guides like Tony Hawk, Mark Mothersbaugh, Michelle "Estrojen" Steilen, Shepard Fairey, and many more. Introduction by Tony Hawk. "You're weird." "Sorry." "No, that was a compliment." --Donnie Darko When the whole world appears designed to make you just fit in, Misfit urges you to listen to your oddball self and seek out an original path. Will it be easy? Predictable? Understood and supported by the masses? No. But will it be dynamic, full of wild expression, and fill you with a joyful sense of discovery? Yes. Sean Mortimer--a celebrated writer who started as a skateboarder alongside Tony Hawk--collaborates with internationally acclaimed misfits whose unconventional heat has warped how the world perceives music, sports and art. These iconic nonconformists did not start out as the celebrated renegades we see today. Each pushed through the initial pain and isolation of social rejection, overcoming self-doubt with erratic experimentation to reach a destination overflowing with conviction, gratitude, and their own version of success. Steering readers through the subcultures of alternative music and sports, Dungeons & Dragons, "illegal" art and other disenfranchised movements, Misfit shows how deep drive, relentless innovation and unregulated creativity are the survival skills of misfit life. Detailing stories of awkward childhoods, teenage angst and unconventional adulthood from game changing outcasts, Mortimer demonstrates how the will to break rules, fight blind obedience, and reject "normal" ultimately sparks a curiosity that leads to a new form of confidence and a thriving, open-minded approach to life.

Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, Joe Namath promised the nation that he would lead the New York Jets to an 18-point underdog victory against the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts. When the final whistle blew, that promise had been kept. Namath was instantly heralded as a gridiron god, while his rugged good looks, progressive views on race, and boyish charm quickly transformed him - in an era of raucous rebellion, shifting social norms, and political upheaval - into both a bona fide celebrity and a symbol of the commercialization of pro sports. By 26, with a championship title under his belt, he was quite simply the most famous athlete alive. Although his legacy has long been cemented in the history books, beneath the eccentric yet charismatic personality was a player plagued by injury and addiction, both sex and substance. When failing knees permanently derailed his career, he turned to Hollywood and endorsements, not to mention a tumultuous marriage and fleeting bouts of sobriety, to try and find purpose. Now 74, Namath is ready to open up, brilliantly using the four quarters of Super Bowl III as the narrative backbone to a life that was anything but charmed. As much about football and fame as about addiction, fatherhood, and coming to terms with our own mortality, All the Way finally reveals the man behind the icon.

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.