Dialing the wrong number - Rated 
There are countless thousands of people with mountain bikes looking for a book to help them ride trails more skilfully. Sadly, this is not it.
At the outset the authors declare they want to write a step-by-step guide to mountain biking. They not only fail to do that, they do so in language which excludes newcomers while making asides which are only likely to put off inexperienced riders altogether.
There are a few good tips - drop offs, bunny hops and "manuals"/wheelies are all well and coherently covered. But there's no real sense of progress, and the authors give the impression they would rather be talking to fellow racers than taking time with beginners or recreational riders looking to add a few skills to their repertoire.
It is all written in irritating mountain bike magazine jargon which serves only to irritate and obscure rather than illuminate. Everything is "dialed". Of course. The overall tone is that of a 13-year-old boy pulling wheelies in front of his house.
One can only guess at the authors' motivation for going into details about death, paralysis and broken limbs on the trail or racecourse. Bravado has its place, but not in a training manual. Then again, the main theme of the book does seem to be "whatever you do, don't use the brakes".
Great guidance for all styles of riding - Rated 
If you only ever buy one mountain bike tuition book make sure that this is it. Ive only been riding just over a year and ive found every part of this book really useful. It covers loads of subjects, including everything from basic riding techniques to more complicated trials, jumping and racing topics. Its all very well laid out with lots of pictures and despite the opinion of some that it may be hard for beginners to understand due to jargon terms, I still class myself as a novice and had no problem understanding it. Besides, if there are any terms you are unsure of, there is always that wonderful invention, the internet, which is always willing and able to explain things to you....... ENJOY YOUR RIDING!
Buy it, you'll learn something. - Rated
I've only been riding mountain bikes since this spring and a mate got me this for Christmas. I enjoy doing some off road stuff but most of what the book shows is well beyond what I'm likely to get into so I initially read it without expecting to get much out of it. Boy did I get a surprise. Within a week I'd managed to incorporate much of what is in the early chapters into my riding and I'm finding I've got a lot more confidence and am attacking the trail far more than I did before. As far as the later chapters go (jumping, dropping and such like) maybe one day it'll be something I want to look at but it's definitely fun to read about in the meantime.
As for the language, some of it is a bit Southern Californian but I managed to work my way round it. I'm still laughing about him suggesting that I might want to learn to "pump the backside".
MTB Masterclass - Rated
Just got this book from Amazon and it is a truly fantastic guide to MTB (and more) techniques! Thoroughly recommend it to anyone, it takes you through just about every aspect of the sport you could think of, and my riding capabilities and confidence have grown dramatically already! If you are into mountain biking, be it XC, dirt, 4X, DH and you know you need help with your technique but don't want to spend a fortune on courses, get this. Its great.
Brilliant - Rated
Ptretty much echo the comments of Phil and Gravity, this book is brilliant, I returned to biking after 12 years so not a beginner but a lot of it was wierd, that said I think that a novice could use this book very well, the vernacular elements no a major problem, suffice it to say doing a "dead sailor" sounds bad!! ( for the record I dont know what that is, but I hardly think that matters.
What does matter though is that the book tells the reader in good detail, stage by stage how to achieve the various manoueveres and skills..... and more its done with great humour and a sense of fun that is central to riding for me at least. I too laughed out loud.
Im not one for hero worship but Lopez is great (phoo you Lopez!) he conveys the spirit, the joy and necessary detail perfectly, I use it all the time and thouroughly recommend it.
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