Although the stories and essays in Life and Limb are diverse in subject and voice - and some explore tangential activities from tree eating to the historical and cultural significance of boulders - they all express certain approaches common to skateboarders everywhere. These include an iconoclastic sense of creativity fostered by a lifetime spent outside the restrictions of team sports; a collaborative artistic spirit and a disdain for overt competitiveness; a sense of humor; an appetite for risk that often borders on self-destructiveness; a youthful distrust of authority; and a reluctance to join the "adult" world of commerce and responsibility. While all the contributing writers have been heavily influenced by skateboarding, the stories in Life and Limb don't glorify or idealize the sport. Many of the pieces reveal a darker side - the curse that accompanies the blessing of a lifetime spent rolling very fast over very hard surfaces.