Book cover of The History of Surfing

Book description

Matt Warshaw knows more about surfing that any other person on the planet. After five years of research and writing, Warshaw has completed a totally unprecedented history of the sport and the culture it has spawned. With a voice that is definitive, funny, and wholly original, The History of Surfing…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The History of Surfing as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Matt Warshaw wrote The Encyclopedia of Surfing and he is indeed encyclopedic when it comes to surfing. My impression of this book—written after he completed his epic encyclopedia—is that he was so bursting at the seams with surf history, evolution, movements, and flashpoints that he had no choice but to pen this dance through surfing’s glorious past.

I loved the characters, and I loved Matt’s prose. Did Matt live for many years in San Francisco, pulling into tubes every day at a surf break whose name I shall respectfully not mention? Did tube riding inform his prose? Yes. Matt is…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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