Big Wave: Stories of Riding the World's Wildest Water [Paperback]

Clint Willis (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Adrenaline | Publication Date: May 2003

The impact of such films as Blue Crush and Step into Liquid (from the directors of the classic Endless Summer) have helped fuel a surfing renaissance that extends from aging baby-boomers down to upstart pre-teens. This boom is driving sales of surfer gear and duds—and set the stage for an Adrenaline Book that will do justice to the sport's surprisingly long history, which dates to well before Captain Cook's eighteenth century voyages of discovery. Big Wave taps into a lush literature that will appeal to virtual and visceral thrill-seekers of all ages. The book features great writing on every aspect of the sport: the exhilaration of riding tsunami-like breakers; the competition that drives surfers to defy death in the world's most dangerous waters; the turf wars that can end in violence; the terror of shark attacks; and the sheer Zen-like beauty of riding a wave the way it's meant to be ridden.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560255013
• ISBN-13: 978-1560255017
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,063,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the sport -, July 4, 2003

By 

Andrew Entwistle (Schodack, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Wave: Stories of Riding the World's Wildest Water (Paperback)

but to get the most from it I think it would help to already love surfing. There are twenty selections in this book (310 pgs), eight are from a larger work and the others are stand alones. Seven are profiles of guys who have apparently been big on the surf scene. This is where I think that if you follow surfing you'll get more from the book than I did. However, it's all good writing and the other selections are in three main veins - a history of the sport, reporting on a contest, and focusing on an event or a locale. So in a way, if the sport interests you at all, this is a very good primer. I'll say this - after reading it, I went to the magazine rack, flipped through some surf magazines and found that I recognized the names and locales now. Not a lot of white knuckle, death defying stuff like the mountaineering books - but adrenaline comes in many forms and the challenges the heroes here face are surviving economically as a surfer, beating back newbies to stay on top of the heap, and searching for the "personal best" wave. And it does present a broad view of the surf culture - from Alaska to New York, and clothing to music. A mostly enjoyable read.