By Michael Burnett (michaelburnettphoto.com)

Mike Burnett is the main photo dude at Thrasher Magazine (I think they call it a staff photographer or photo editor, but Vapors obviously doesn’t have one), and I’ve been known to credit him with bringing that prestigious magazine back from the edge of, um, going nowhere. I like Mike—not so much personally but because he captures the moments I most like to see: great skating and all the crazy shit behind the scenes. Included in this book are pictures of several of my favorite skaters not skating, guys like Nick Trepasso, Daniel “Haniac” Haney, and Don “Nuge” Nguyen. And there’s also a great little section on Skatopia, the drug/skate (or is it skate/drug?) commune somewhere in Ohio, including some nice shots of the stripper pole under the ramp—ghetto! And look at the photo/note Mike sent me with the book. “Please enjoy this pretentious vanity project.” What a great sense of humor. I like Mike.