Ryan Stevens (1)
Author of Sequins, Scandals & Salchows: Figure Skating in the 1980s
For other authors named Ryan Stevens, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Ryan Stevens
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Stevens, Ryan
- Gender
- male
- Country (for map)
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Short biography
- Ryan Stevens is a former figure skater and judge from Nova Scotia who writes about figure skating history at http://www.skateguardblog.com. His work has been published in "Skating" magazine and on U.S. Figure Skating's digital platforms. He has contributed to numerous projects, including the Boots & Blades exhibit at the Bata Shoe Museum, Historic Nova Scotia app and a skating exhibit at the Museo etnografico di Leventina. He has also been consulted for historical research for television programs on NBC, CBC and ITV.
Members
Reviews
Sequins, Scandals & Salchows: Figure Skating in the… by Ryan Stevens
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.If you are a fan of figure skating this is the book for you.Full of facts information famouse ice skaters.A really wonderful read.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Such an interesting and informative book! The 1988 Calgary Olympics were the start of my love of figure skating - learning more about figure skating in the 1980’s leading up to the those Olympics has given me more insight and perspective. Highly recommend for other fans.
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.I totally loved this book because I grew up in the 80's and remember how exciting it was to watch the skating championships on TV. The Battle of the Brians at the '88 Olympics was one of the first thing we ever recorded on our VCR. I was a huge Brian Boitano fan, so it was fun to read through his career, along with some of my other 80's favorites like Christopher Bowman, Paul Wylie, and Viktor Patrenko.
This book starts in the 1980 skating season and discusses each of the major national and international championships, and goes through to the 1989 season. There are pictures of the skaters on the ice, the list of winners at each championship, and short bios and stories about the events. Very well researched, and a Must for big skating fans of the 80's, like me.
I received an advanced copy of this book from LibraryThing for my honest review.… (more)
This book starts in the 1980 skating season and discusses each of the major national and international championships, and goes through to the 1989 season. There are pictures of the skaters on the ice, the list of winners at each championship, and short bios and stories about the events. Very well researched, and a Must for big skating fans of the 80's, like me.
I received an advanced copy of this book from LibraryThing for my honest review.… (more)
I highly recommend this book to skating fans! This is the greatest book about the greatest decade of the greatest sport in the world. Ryan Stevens brings his wealth of experience in researching figure skating history to the 1980s. He has achieved an impressive compilation of information all about amateur and professional figure skating. It contains a lot of behind-the-scenes info about what went on at competitions and shows, in addition to comprehensive lists of competitive results, and great pictures.
As someone from Down Under, it was really unusual and pleasant to see information about smaller skating countries such as New Zealand and Australia pop up occasionally. There was enough information about skating around the world to remind the reader that skating exists in countries outside North America or Europe. The title is nicely alliterative, but don't expect that much about costuming.
I loved the cover, the stripes reminded me of Scott Hamilton's free skating costume from 1984. It’s an appropriate image to represent the tone and contents inside this book: a straightforward, no-nonsense, highly readable reference book. I appreciated the logical layout, presented in chronological order with good use of headings. The book is easy to navigate structurally, except for the baffling lack of paragraphs which makes it difficult to physically scan and read the text. One paragraph per discipline per competition would be a helpful tool for the reader, rather than being faced with a solid page of text per competition description. I hope this formatting and a few typos are corrected in future editions.
I enjoyed the occasional mentions of other notable historical events in the 1980s, placing skating within the social events of the times. I was personally disappointed by the lack of historical interpretation of the facts, or historical narrative weaving themes together. But then that would be a different book, and this book does very well its core focus of carefully and thoroughly recording what happened in this crucial decade in the evolution of the sport.
Read the brief introduction if you can see it in preview, and if the person described therein is you, then buy with confidence that you will find it both entertaining and illuminating. Older readers will enjoy the trip down memory lane. Younger skaters would also do well to read this book, to understand the evolution of their sport and see how different skating was just a generation ago. Whether you lived through skating in the 80s, or sadly missed out like I did, there is a lot of new info for everyone in this book, a fantastic resource for skating fans.
It’s the sort of book you don’t usually sit down and read all in one go. It’s great for dipping in and out, e.g. reading all about one year at a time, or flipping through and reading about one particular skater’s career throughout the decade for instance. This comprehensive and readable recap of 80s ice skating will have you immediately keen to watch the programs described therein on YouTube, or to dig out your old video tape collections.
I read the e-book version, and I'm sure the many pictures included will make it a handsome physical book. I received an advance review copy of this book and this is my honest review. I would have bought the book, and I recommend you buy it too. Be sure to check out the other books by Ryan Stevens about figure skating as well!… (more)
As someone from Down Under, it was really unusual and pleasant to see information about smaller skating countries such as New Zealand and Australia pop up occasionally. There was enough information about skating around the world to remind the reader that skating exists in countries outside North America or Europe. The title is nicely alliterative, but don't expect that much about costuming.
I loved the cover, the stripes reminded me of Scott Hamilton's free skating costume from 1984. It’s an appropriate image to represent the tone and contents inside this book: a straightforward, no-nonsense, highly readable reference book. I appreciated the logical layout, presented in chronological order with good use of headings. The book is easy to navigate structurally, except for the baffling lack of paragraphs which makes it difficult to physically scan and read the text. One paragraph per discipline per competition would be a helpful tool for the reader, rather than being faced with a solid page of text per competition description. I hope this formatting and a few typos are corrected in future editions.
I enjoyed the occasional mentions of other notable historical events in the 1980s, placing skating within the social events of the times. I was personally disappointed by the lack of historical interpretation of the facts, or historical narrative weaving themes together. But then that would be a different book, and this book does very well its core focus of carefully and thoroughly recording what happened in this crucial decade in the evolution of the sport.
Read the brief introduction if you can see it in preview, and if the person described therein is you, then buy with confidence that you will find it both entertaining and illuminating. Older readers will enjoy the trip down memory lane. Younger skaters would also do well to read this book, to understand the evolution of their sport and see how different skating was just a generation ago. Whether you lived through skating in the 80s, or sadly missed out like I did, there is a lot of new info for everyone in this book, a fantastic resource for skating fans.
It’s the sort of book you don’t usually sit down and read all in one go. It’s great for dipping in and out, e.g. reading all about one year at a time, or flipping through and reading about one particular skater’s career throughout the decade for instance. This comprehensive and readable recap of 80s ice skating will have you immediately keen to watch the programs described therein on YouTube, or to dig out your old video tape collections.
I read the e-book version, and I'm sure the many pictures included will make it a handsome physical book. I received an advance review copy of this book and this is my honest review. I would have bought the book, and I recommend you buy it too. Be sure to check out the other books by Ryan Stevens about figure skating as well!… (more)
Lists
Awards
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 31
- Popularity
- #440,253
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 21
- ISBNs
- 11
- Languages
- 1
