The Wave by Susan Casey was a book I read for the first time in June 2011. I purchased it in the SFO airport on my way to Utah and finished it during my visit. It keeps a delicate balance between being a book about surfing and a book about science, all the while keeping the pages turning with it’s fast-paced narrative accounts of close encounters with rogue waves and adventures that take you all over the world. By the end of the book, I wanted to be a surfer and was very glad that I wasn’t one at the same time. It gave me a new appreciation of the oceanographers, climatologists and historians who focus on natural disasters, climate change and ocean safety. It was in this way that it appealed to both the nerd and the athlete in me, colored with the cautionary tone of an environmentalist and the enthusiasm of an adrenaline junkie.
Plus, this book was written by a woman, a super rad woman who is both a journalist and a surfer and proves that she can keep up with the boys on the big waves and come home to write about it. It was the best book I read last year and I want you to read it. I hope you’ll love it as much as I did.
Here’s the link to the NYT review: http://tinyurl.com/7xspfml
On Feburary 1, I’ll post some discussion questions and hope that some of you choose to participate in the dialogue. Enjoy!
Chicks Like Sports Too 