Hello all I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for some good surf reading. Anyone know of any good surfer philosphy type books? I’m really working on using the ocean as a release for the stressors in my life.
or if any of y’all have advice i’f love to hear it!
Mahalo!
Deb
I recently came across a great book called “On the Blue Shore of Silence: Poems of the Sea” - a collection of Neruda poems that all have the sea as the central theme. I picked it up at Cody’s in Union Square.
http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780060591847
Not directly surfing related, but probably the most incredible expressions about the sea I’ve ever read.
There’s a lot of great surfing related writing out there. To reduce the stress in your life - better than reading, you should just get out and catch a wave…
Aloha,
KP
I saw that book recently. I thought about picking it up. I figure i can do the reading and stuff when i’m not in the water. yenno some good lunchtime reading at work or before bed reading
two suggestions:
“surfings greatest misadventures” and " west of Jesus" finished the first it was fun read, mostly finished the second, a deep read
and just today weisbeckers book —Can’t you get along?" arrived in my mailbox
“Caught Inside: A surfer’s year on the California Coast” By David Duane
‘‘you should have been here an hour ago’’
by phil edwards and bob otum
everything else is unnecessary
the monastary of saint phil on isla santa cruz C I
is the residual home of this sect of cataholix
the zelots rage overthrow of smoothe
destroyed all other remaining chapels and sanctuaries in caalifornia
the largest of which was in dana point
the former site of the richard henry dana
publishing house and grill.
two years before the mast was the former bible of californistas
after the phil edwards book lost favor at the hands of the john birch scietie’s
"Blue book’’
Mobilizing resentment…?
reading is the opiate of the masses
surfing is better…
…ambrose…
except when maybe its dark out or you are sick
after i posted my two recent choices—i sat out on the porch(surf is lousy, wwe’re between hurricane swells) and finished “West of Jesus-------surfing , science and the origins of belief” not too sure i would suggest this to anyone who has not put in a LOT of surf time or a lot of LIFE. i think it’s a great read!maybe a bit too off the ‘surfie’ track for many.
Long time favorite? “You should have been here an hour ago OR how to go through like stoked” by a vaguely known fellow known as phil edwards 
Thanks for all the good reading suggestions. I like to look at this as “post summer reading.”
I know a book with words and picture could never compare to the feeling of catching a good wave. Just trying to keep the stoke on the streets when i’m not in the water. I guess it’s a matter of keeping that same train of thought i have in the water when i’m on land.
i’ve read some enlightening outlooks on life on swaylocks. thanks for the words…
keep the suggestions coming!
ooooh if anyone has great movie suggestions i’m up for that too!
“Hank the Cow Dog” volumes #1-#48. Mike
“Eddie Would Go” by Stuart Holmes Coleman. A biography of Eddie Aikau, legendary Waimea Bay lifeguard and big wave surfer who disappeared attempting a rescue of the Hokulea- an ancient polynesian sailing canoe retracing the achievements of the the greatest navigators the world has never really known about.
caught inside - daniel duane - it’s like a 250 page really reall good surfers journal article. you get lost in it.
surprised nobody has metioned kim nunn.he has three pretty cool surf related books.
three possible options
Surfer Spirit
http://www.thespiritbooks.com/index.htm
Dancing the Wave
Audacity, Equilibrium, and Other Mysteries of Surfing
Written by Jean-Etienne Poirier
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-1-59030-060-2 (1-59030-060-2)
North Shore Chronicles: Big-Wave Surfing in Hawaii (Paperback)
by Bruce Jenkins
Publisher: FROG, LTD; 2nd edition (June 1999)
ISBN: 1883319900
Definitely Dan Duane’s Caught Inside & Bruce Jenkins’ North Shore Chronicles. Those are top of the list. Probably check out The Dogs of Winter (Kem Nunn) and The Big Drop (collection of short stories, Ed: John Long). Tapping The Source (K Nunn) and In Search of Captain Zero (Alan Weisbacker) are both worth a read. Killer Swell (Jeff Shelby) is a marginally surf-themed mystery which is readable. Eddie Would Go and Da Bull-Life On The Edge are both worth it, as biographies go. Dale Velzy is Hawk is a recent coffee-table style pick up which I’m enjoying…
and the Kimo Hollinger short stories- they are brilliant and put out by Anoai Press in Honolulu- www.anoaipress.com is the website. They did a couple of other surf related things like the Fred Van Dyke book.
Mellow it’s not, real it is.
Mr Sunset: The Jeff Hackman Story, Jeff Hackman
Surfing, surfers, heroin, crime, travel, addiction, recovery, sex, making money, family, etc.
Its not something you’d want to read sitting on a rock overlooking a bay with a lait and a muffin, but my quess is that you’ll finish it quick. … and no inspiring ending either, aside from the fact that the Hackman story continues… day to day would be my guess.
Kevin
I think I’m having a “deja vu all over again.” The Patrick O’Brien books are killer. Master and Commander and all those. His descriptions of sailing full tilt into a fearous storm put you right at the helm. Mike
I wanted to say fearsome storms. Woops. mike
Has anyone read The Lost Coast by Drew Campion? I have heard about it, but no reviews.
Mr Sunset: The Jeff Hakman Story
I’d agree that is a good one, almost a cautionary tale except very few people will be breathing that air on personal, professional, and surfing levels. Still, first class read by Hakman and Phil Jarrett.
“Morning Glass” by Mike Doyle. Just because the average surfer only knows the name through softboards in sporting goods stores doesn’t mean the man hadn’t been there and done that, so to speak. A frank and very positive look at life and surfing and the times he’d lived in so far.
Tom Morey needs to write a few books…