The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

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The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 · rating details · 3,875 ratings · 824 reviews

From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil’s Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out.

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dismissed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few d...more

ebook, 336 pages

Published September 14th 2010 by Anchor (first published January 1st 2010)

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Mar 13, 2011 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science, nautical-non-fiction

edited 3/12/11 to add references and some links

We are surrounded by waves: electromagnetic, light, radio, and water. They can be helpful providing power, light and communication; but they can also carry unimaginable force.

The science of waves and surf forecasting is relatively new. It began in earnest during WW II when scientists realized that successful amphibious landings required some ability to forecast surf sizes on the beaches. It didn’t hurt that there was oodles of money available and s...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Armchair adventurers, anyone interested in the ocean and climate change

Recommended to Susan by: Goodreads

Shelves: first-reads, arc-edition

Don't take this book as your leisure reading on that next cruise or you will be constantly watching the horizon, wondering if that next freak wave is on its way.

My reason for reading this book, subtitled In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, is that I wanted to learn more about huge waves, tsunamis, and ocean behavior. I was not so much interested in the surfers or their stories. However, not far into the book, that changed.

The author talks with scientists studying the pheno...more Don't take this book as your leisure reading on that next cruise or you will be constantly watching the horizon, wondering if that next freak wave is on its way.

My reason for reading this book, subtitled In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, is that I wanted to learn more about huge waves, tsunamis, and ocean behavior. I was not so much interested in the surfers or their stories. However, not far into the book, that changed.

The author talks with scientists studying the phenomenon and hangs out with the surfers who tackle these big waves. Despite the recent improvements in monitoring and measuring, the science still has a long way to go and the ocean is still wildly unpredictable. While the scientific information is interesting and enlightening, I really enjoyed getting a bit into the minds of the big-wave surfers who attempt challenges most of us would never even dream of trying. Some have paid with their lives. Many are part of a close knit pseudo-family, enduring the squabbles all families have but watching out for one another, often at the risk of their own lives.

“If I scare myself once every day, I am a better person,” he had said, “It helps to have that little jolt of perspective that life's fragile.”

(This quote is from an advance bound galley, so may have changed in the published edition.)

The number of huge ships, especially the low-riding tankers, that just disappear without a trace and with little if any media coverage is amazing. Often these ships are registered to countries with loose maritime standards and crewed by under-trained third world natives.

The book also contains information on maritime insurance, climate change, marine salvage companies, lots of people and organizations involved with the vagaries of oceanic behavior.

I do wish the author had explained a few more of the surfing terms for the uninitiated, like I am. That is my only quibble with the book, and it is a minor one. All in all, the book is a fascinating read.

I was given a copy of the bound galley by the publisher through Goodreads.com, for which I am very grateful. (less)

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Oct 13, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventuring, non-fiction, nature, science, brain-candy

Size matters to Toronto-born Susan Casey, wave size that is. She is interested in the big kahunas of wave-dom, rogues, freaks, giants or monsters that rise a hundred feet or more above the surrounding water. Think The Perfect Storm. Then think bigger.

Scientists once dismissed the notion of waves that big, but science has started to turn what were believed to be tall tales into accepted truth. In 1933 a serene officer on the USS Ramapo measured one such rogue at 112 feet! Even the enormous (see,...more Size matters to Toronto-born Susan Casey, wave size that is. She is interested in the big kahunas of wave-dom, rogues, freaks, giants or monsters that rise a hundred feet or more above the surrounding water. Think The Perfect Storm. Then think bigger.

Scientists once dismissed the notion of waves that big, but science has started to turn what were believed to be tall tales into accepted truth. In 1933 a serene officer on the USS Ramapo measured one such rogue at 112 feet! Even the enormous (see, I didn’t say titanic) cargo carriers of today are no match for such fury. Current models of oceanic wave generation have not been up to the task of predicting when and where these big guys might emerge. Given how much material is transported across the ocean there is considerable interest in improving our wave prediction capabilities. Add to that the impact of global warming, which is expected to increase the volatility of the seas, and the need to understand the mechanics of the briny deep becomes critical.

Casey alternates between looking at the science and history of waves and the surfer royalty who travel the world in search of the biggest, scariest monster waves to ride. She talks with the people who know huge waves best, in both scientific and surfing communities.

It must have been really tough for Casey to hang out with all those gorgeous, energetic, fit, scantily clothed men, but she made that sacrifice and offers a close up view of the high-end surfer culture. In particular she focuses on Laird Hamilton, the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Babe Ruth of the sport, trailing after him and his cohorts as they seek out that perfect ride, succeeding, failing, wiping out and telling tales of how they got all those nifty scars. Of course, one might wonder how an outsider, even one with a publishing resume like Casey’s, which includes The Devil’s Teeth, a best seller about great white sharks, could gain such intimate access to the surfers’ world. Cash helps. Hamilton was paid to ease Casey’s way into this [primarily] boys’ club. So while Hamilton no doubt deserves all the accolades that come his way for his professional achievements, one must always wonder what might have been left out. [see http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/ind...] Nevertheless, Casey joins Hamilton and many other top names in surfing as they drop in at the major surf meccas of Hawaii, surf in Tahiti, California and Mexico and even catch some monster waves a hundred miles out at sea. Going rogue for real. It makes for gripping reading.

The scientific chapters are less personal but more informative. Casey relates some chilling history of tsunamis, both the regular and mega varieties, including one puppy that topped out at 1,740 feet in Lituya Bay in Alaska in 1958. The results on the ground were impressive. That two people in a boat survived this may be more impressive. She visits Lloyds of London to find out just how big an issue losses at or because of the sea might be. She hears from crew members about a voyage on the oceanic research ship Discovery, an outing that included getting battered by multiple hundred-footers coming at the ship from many directions, and she reports on a conference where the biggest brains in the wave business gather to discuss their work. There is surprising information here on how some waves act more like light than matter. And there is a nifty bit of info on just how Britain came to be an island.

Casey offers a less than lovely look at the future through the eyes of Bill McGuire, a world expert on global geophysical events, or as he likes to call them, “Gee-Gees.” He has acquired nicknames like Disasterman and the Prophet of Doom. In the disaster movie of your choice, McGuire is the guy who would be dragged away from his child’s graduation to advise the president, or the PM, as this Englishman works in London.

By offering such different perspectives, Casey has succeeded in teaching us a lot about an important subject while at the same time providing an exciting, entertaining read.

Dude, this is one wave you really want to catch.
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Oct 10, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is too predictable to say that Susan Casey wrote a great piece of non-fiction. As the author of countless articles in mainstream periodicals like Outside, National Geographic and Men's health, to being the current editor of O Magazine, to writing the gripping and meticulously researched "The Devil's Teeth", you come to her second book expecting excellence and she does not disappoint. Casey follows two groups of individuals in parallel- big wave scientists/ researchers, and big wave surfers. C...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jason added it · review of another edition

I had high hopes for this book, but you'll get sucked into the majesty of big wave / tow surfing in one chapter only to be bored to sleep with a chapter on the science of waves. It took me months to finish this book because once I hit a "science" chapter, I'd put the book down for a few days or weeks because I just didn't want to deal with it. The author also drones on and on about climate change and global warming to the point where I just stopped caring about it. She seemed to blame anything a...more

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May 09, 2013 Heather Furlow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have a fascination with sharks and the ocean (as does Susan Casey), so I love this book (about "rogue waves") and the other book which she wrote first, "The Devil's Teeth" (about great white sharks). Anyway, "The Wave" is a fascinating book that proves the fact that 100-foot "rogue waves" do exist and introduces people who have lived to see them: scientists, fishermen and most interesting to me, surfers. Susan's talent lies in the fact that she can take a topic that could be written at a very...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Bill Dawes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There's a whole sub-genre of this sort of book; trying to get inside the heads of big wave surfers, and analysing the mesmerising appeal of waves to so many people. The ones written by 'outsiders' to the scene usually fail, as the author applies way too much spurious analysis and ends up missing the fundamentals. The ones written by members of the surfing fraternity are generally quite good, as they can 'walk the walk', and usually have some good insights - but they rarely have the technical ski...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read several reviews of this book and was drawn to it because I have a passion for big waves: looking at them, not surfing them. I watch surf documentaries over and over, largely for the waves, and the surfers give them scale. I really liked this book. I read it in just a couple of sittings. Unlike some reviewers who were bored by the science, I found that completed the story. I particularly remember her account of attending a conference on wave science. The tales of rogue waves were terrifyin...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Sean McGowan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Susan Casey is a New York Times bestselling author of Devil's Teeth, a fascinating story of great white sharks off the coast of the United States, and the editor in chief of O magazine. For her latest non-fiction book Ms. Casey is back in the sea, literally, in a book described as capturing ship swallowing waves with scientists and surfers.

Her first book on great whites was an excellent book that put you in the boats on a scary island off the coast of California. This book attempts to do the sam...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How do you end a book about waves, taking into account the ending of The Great Gatsby or the repetition in a Van Morrison song? It’s not something to tackle lightly, or even something that the author of a non-fiction exploration of wave science and surfing (both) would be expected to do. But author Susan Casey does what she can now that the metaphors are all used up here in The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean (Doubleday, 2010). Ending lyrically is maybe her hardes...more How do you end a book about waves, taking into account the ending of The Great Gatsby or the repetition in a Van Morrison song? It’s not something to tackle lightly, or even something that the author of a non-fiction exploration of wave science and surfing (both) would be expected to do. But author Susan Casey does what she can now that the metaphors are all used up here in The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean (Doubleday, 2010). Ending lyrically is maybe her hardest task – and the one that doesn’t even matter when your source material is this amazing.

The ostensible research interest in The Wave is large waves, known as freaks or rogues. These have been chronicled in various surf documentaries including Riding Giants. If you’ve seen Riding Giants, you’ve been amazed. The waves are so big as to be without scale – unimaginable and inconceivable in size and power. Like The Wave, Riding Giants captured the epic proportions, the emotional highs and the personalities of folks who chase these. The Wave follows, in depth, surfers and their important buddies – rescue teams, helicopter friends, photographers and endorsers. It also, horribly, records the inevitable and incredibly sad fatalities of folks who surf the sea.

What’s the biggest wave you’d ride? The book describes epic tales of masterful wave riding, putting the reader right there in the pipe with long-serving watermen. I felt salted, thirsty and exhausted at the end. Yes, the answer is always yes. Until it’s no. The Wave keeps the adrenaline pumping until the tale of Brett Lickle, best bud of Laird Hamilton. In a most masterful chapter (starting on page 217), Casey relays the tale of the buddies riding out in a storm near Egypt (read the book), and the near-death survival of Lickle, rescued by Hamilton who appeared on a lost jet ski in the middle of 120-foot waves. Laird Hamilton, did I mention him? He’s a star here, larger-than-life and moody like the sea. Hamilton hands out few kind words to hangers on and wannabees, but is the man’s man glue holding a rowdy group of thrill seekers together. He’s as methodical as the scientists studying wave theory, devising new boards and means of staying in the pipe.

Hamilton and his ilk aren’t scientists. But The Wave is both about sport and science. For instance: in 1958, an 8.0 earthquake along the Fairweather Fault in Alaska generated a 1,740 foot wave (you read that right) which traveled across the bay at 100 mph and denuded the land for 4 square miles. The science in The Wave examines a few places on Earth where the geography amplifies wave action. And the book explores reasons why wave action isn’t predictable, especially when unknown climatic conditions are fed into the poorly understood wave system. Take our current shifting weather patterns, our perpetually moving tectonic plates and you’ve got a case of heretofore undocumented wave breakouts across the globe, taking out tankers, sailors and researchers at the seeming drop of a hat. The research is a mix of personal anecdotes, trips with surf masters like Laird Hamilton, visits to wave science centers, and interviews with meteorologists, climatologists, physicists and barge rescuers. The Wave reminds that water is our real master – harsh, energetic, deadly and without logic. It’s a terrifying read, but one which is thrillingly constructed of all these tales woven together. The editing is superb, the pacing well done, the visuals are graphic and cutting, the writing’s honest and sincere. No regrets here; grab hold.
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Aug 20, 2012 Brenton Nichol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-sociology

This was first in a batch of books I'm reading as research for a story. It didn't end up quite fitting my intended parameters, but was engaging nonetheless. While not written explicitly from the "global warming will destroy us all" angle, the implication is certainly present that global warming is going to throw us some mighty punches via Poseidon's corner of the ring.

Books that seek to present a scientific topic to laymen fall on a spectrum from dry and technical to easily approachable but soft...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Harkinna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book right away when it came out a few months ago...and LOVED it. So why have I not written the review yet? One word: jealousy. I had this idea to write a book about giant waves, from an article in the New York Times. Hundreds of ships go missing annually. For years they had no idea why...but now we know that the sailors stories of giant waves were not just tall tales.

But I did not write the book. Mrs. Casey did.

She took an interesting tact: she interwove the science of the waves wit...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Wendell rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Two things make this book mildly interesting rather than great. First, Casey cannot decide if she’s writing a book about extreme surfing, oceanography, or sea disasters. The lack of focus means that all three subjects get short shrift, though she unfortunately pays more attention to the least interesting aspect of this triumvirate – extreme surfers. Which brings us to the second reason the book is more an example of “I’m the editor-in-chief of _O Magazine_ and that’s how I got a book deal” than...more Two things make this book mildly interesting rather than great. First, Casey cannot decide if she’s writing a book about extreme surfing, oceanography, or sea disasters. The lack of focus means that all three subjects get short shrift, though she unfortunately pays more attention to the least interesting aspect of this triumvirate – extreme surfers. Which brings us to the second reason the book is more an example of “I’m the editor-in-chief of _O Magazine_ and that’s how I got a book deal” than it is of exemplary journalism. Casey fails to realize that her human subjects – the big-wave surfers whom she befriends and follows around the world – all sound exactly the same and yet have almost nothing revealing or profound to say about what they do. That does not, however, stop her from quoting them at great (not to say excruciating) length as they spin long, ineloquent paragraphs that all boil down to “wow, that was just incredible, but you had to be there to understand why.” One hates to hang a review on a cliché but the cliché is unfortunately true here: Extreme surfers, like many extreme athletes, either cannot say why they do what they do or (and one suspects this is the real reason) aren’t willing to tell the truth about it. For the surfers whom Casey adulates – men (without exception) who repeatedly put themselves in mortal danger, often while bitterly criticizing other men who put themselves in mortal danger for what are evidently less pure motives (the splitting of experiential hairs becomes more than slightly annoying, in fact) – what very much appears to be the actual reason for their participation in a sport that consumes their lives (along with hundreds of thousands of dollars) is simply that their masculinity demands it. The character named Lickle provides the best evidence of this when he describes his group of extreme-surfing buddies as a “gang”: “There was no way out,” he says. “There’s so much peer pressure.... You can’t just walk away.... But if you get shot up and almost die, they let you out.” Indeed, that is precisely what happens to him – he nearly dies – and, as a result, he is allowed to “walk away.” But his use of terms like “gang,” “peer pressure,” and “get shot” (he isn’t shot; he all but bleeds to death when one leg is flayed open by a razor-sharp surfboard fin) betray the ethos entirely. What Casey is actually researching is the same testosterone-driven masculine psychosis of criminal gangs, the same blood in/blood out mentality that means members can almost never “walk away.” Yes, the physical setting is the beach and the spectacles tend to be acted out in bright sunlight, but the psychological environment is no less troubling for all that nor are the actors less chilling in their relentless compulsion to perform their maleness over and over again. Even if it kills them.(less)

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Jan 16, 2012 Kira rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I’ve always been a bit agoraphobic, so the ocean and I have a limited relationship: I hang out with it once or twice a year, and stay as close to the shore as I can without getting hit in the shins by kids on boogie boards.

After reading The Wave, I can’t help but feel like I have the right idea. The thought that some beaches sports waves as tall as five-story buildings gives me goosebumps, and the knowledge that there are people in this world whose first reaction is “I want to get on that, prefe...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Cathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got tired of reading about crazy surfers who risk all to go out and catch the BIGGEST one, but this book taught me a lot: There ARE big waves out in the ocean that drown a lot of ships; conjecture is that a big ship is lost every other week or maybe more often!; conjecture is that thousands of boats are lost every year; ships are not built, nor are oil rigs, to handle the tremendous impact of rogue waves and so it is essential people realize they exist; there really are a lot of scientists, es...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Uyennie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know who's more bad azz in this book...Laird Hamilton and his gang of Watermen or the scientists who also brave scary risks in the pursuit of knowledge. I also found the section on the marine salvagers really fascinating.

Although some of the science section is a bit arcane for the average reader, I think most semi-intelligent people will get the main gist of the concepts.

The stats on how many ships go missing is astounding. As Casey points out, if even a small plane went down, we'd hear...more

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Aug 12, 2011 sarah t rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a general rule, I don't like to read non-fiction mostly because I think it is boring to read about real things. So as far non-fiction goes, this was a pretty gripping read. I enjoyed the parts of the book with science - Lituya Bay, large waves on ODP-style ships, and even the science conference on waves in Hawaii. (But I didn't exactly care for the portrayals of the scientists themselves - it makes me want to reread some John McPhee, because I don't remember him spending so much time on how p...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Philippa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After finishing "When Giants Walked the Earth" I struggled a bit with finding an appropriate book to follow suit. A few short stories of Saki and this book soon set me straight again.

Of course this may be due to my general obsession with water/the ocean, but I found Susan Casey's writing to be so fluid that reading "The Wave" took no effort at all. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized I was at least three-quarters of the way through (a revelation which took me quite aback). There was a ple...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Casey, author of The Devil’s Teeth, a True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks, is a talented journalist, a magazine editor, and as the subtitle of her first book suggests, a fan of extreme activities and circumstances. In The Wave she shadows extreme surfers, those big wave surfers who are towed by jet skis into position to ride 50, 60, 70, 80 foot or higher waves, often in storm conditions. Laird Hamilton is (literally) the poster boy for this cohort of extreme a...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Rachelle Urist rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved it. The writing is not prepossessing at first, but Casey's talent soon rushes in, and the book rises up like the waves she describes. She covers waves from many angles: first and foremost from the pov of the surfers she consults and befriends in her quest to learn about the rogue waves of the title. She also consults historians, mariners, rescue workers, and scientists: oceanographers, meteorologists, and so on. Among the many startling statistics she cites is one that suggests that 2 ship...more Loved it. The writing is not prepossessing at first, but Casey's talent soon rushes in, and the book rises up like the waves she describes. She covers waves from many angles: first and foremost from the pov of the surfers she consults and befriends in her quest to learn about the rogue waves of the title. She also consults historians, mariners, rescue workers, and scientists: oceanographers, meteorologists, and so on. Among the many startling statistics she cites is one that suggests that 2 ships per week go down in storms. That includes yachts, ferries, barges, fishing vessels, cruise ships, and more. That global warming has contributed to the numbers and frequency of freak waves is indisputable. The dangers to the globe of rising sea levels, melting glaciers and an increase in giant waves, not to mention tsunamis, are frightening. Laird Hamilton, the biggest star in the world of big wave surfing, has a sixth sense for weather and waves and travels with his coterie of big wave afficionados to storms and hurricanes that will afford reasonably safe rides. None of the big wave surfers escapes injury, and all have a deep respect for the forces of nature. Casey is clearly in awe of (and maybe in love with) Laird Hamilton, and includes a photo of the two of them together on a jet ski. It wasn't till the book ended, and I read the acknowledgments, that I saw that Hamilton was her initial contact into the inner sanctum of big wave surfers. He and his wife (a 6' tall former basketball player whom we never meet), were the author's hosts in Hawaii, where Casey now has a second home. Hamilton is a formidable figure, who combines skill, experience, discipline and modesty. He's humbled by the big waves he rides. Like all the best riders, he has a healthy dose of fear but is not prone to panic. Casey joins him on several surfing expeditions. In addition her being a prize-winning journalist, she was a competitive swimmer and sometime surfer, and has her own healthy respect for the elements. This page-turner is both edifying and thrilling. (less)

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Jun 13, 2011 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book dedicates about 3/4 of its pages to the surfers that ride giant waves, and about 1/4 to the science behind them. All in all, very cool, and not being a surfer myself, I found myself enjoying those parts more than expected. As famed critic Joshua Brustein points out, the hero worship can get to be a bit much (especially with Laird... geez Susan, he can't be that cool), but it doesn't take too much away from the content.

I would have enjoyed a little more time dedicated to the science, esp...more The book dedicates about 3/4 of its pages to the surfers that ride giant waves, and about 1/4 to the science behind them. All in all, very cool, and not being a surfer myself, I found myself enjoying those parts more than expected. As famed critic Joshua Brustein points out, the hero worship can get to be a bit much (especially with Laird... geez Susan, he can't be that cool), but it doesn't take too much away from the content.

I would have enjoyed a little more time dedicated to the science, especially the relation between climate change's effect on giant waves and what it means for specific places. Still, well done. The only element I thought was largely missing was the viewpoint of the surfer's family, especially given how dangerous the whole business of riding 100 ft waves can be.

The first quote I think summarizes Susan Casey's writing style, and the second is her attempt to summarize our relationship, even kinship, with waves.

"... a true waterman could swim for hours in the most treacherous conditions, save people's lives at will, paddle for a hundred miles if necessary, and commune with all ocean creatures, including large sharks. He understood his environment. He could sense the wind's subtlest shifts and know how that would affect the water. He could navigate by the stars. Not only could he ride the waves, he knew how the waves worked. Most important, a waterman always demonstrated the proper respect for his element. He recognized that the ocean operated on a scale that made even the greatest human initiative seem puny."

"Like the sea, we are always in motion. The waves loom in our dreams and in our nightmares through all of time, their rhythms pulsing through us. They move across a faint horizon, the rush of love and the surge of grief, the respite of peace and then fear again, the heart that beats and then lies still, the rise and fall and rise and fall of all of it, the incoming and the outgoing, the infinite procession of life. And the ocean wraps the earth, a reminder. The mysteries come forward in waves."(less)

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Jun 05, 2011 Christine added it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

An introduction to a world I knew nothing of. Being afraid of height and speed, surfing a 50 foot wave was almost unimaginable to me but I did sort of get the feeling, and, amazingly, the attraction of it by reading this book. Since the author had been a competitive swimmer, she could get out into the waves even if she wasn't surfing which added to the authenticity of her writing. Following one top big wave surfer, Laird Hamilton, helped bring this world into focus. Besides learning of some of t...more An introduction to a world I knew nothing of. Being afraid of height and speed, surfing a 50 foot wave was almost unimaginable to me but I did sort of get the feeling, and, amazingly, the attraction of it by reading this book. Since the author had been a competitive swimmer, she could get out into the waves even if she wasn't surfing which added to the authenticity of her writing. Following one top big wave surfer, Laird Hamilton, helped bring this world into focus. Besides learning of some of the places the big waves are, in addition to Mavericks, I learned about the need for super buoyant life vests so when the wave crashes down, you aren't held underwater until you drown. There was an interesting protrayal of our society's, or capitalism's, need to try to extract money from every form of activity in the description of a big surfing competition award ceremony complete with Vanna White type, only younger, women to escort the winners and pass out the awards. Then there was the world of research into the giant waves, by definition, a wave rising out, seemingly out of nowhere, that was 2-3 times the size of the other waves, waves which were thought not possible and the product of over active imaginations of sailors until they were documented by instruments on deep sea oil drilling platforms. Here were scientists going out on research vessels into storms to gather data or sitting in offices trying to make sense of mountains of data to understand the incredible forces released when the earth's crust shifts to create tsunamis. I never before knew about the tsunami that struck Cresent City Ca in 1964 depositing an oil tanker several miles inland. Finally, there was the tragedy of the sinking of several big ships a month to huge waves and storms. If something similar happened with airplanes, it wouldn't be tolerated but since this happens where no one sees, often with third world crews, it's mainly the shipping and insurance companies upset about financial loss. I listened to the book, which was well read, so don't know if the actual book had pictures but that certainly would add a lot if it did.(less)

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May 18, 2011 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is another good book by Casey. She wrote a book called "The Devil's Teeth" a few years ago about sharks that I also enjoyed. This effort focuses on huge waves, a topic that i find very interesting. Until 20 years ago or so science dismissed the idea of rogue waves (think of the wave in "The Perfect Storm"), put down to embellished recollections of scared sailors. However, with new wave measuring instruments it has become clear that these monster waves do exist. Waves in excess of 120' have...more

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May 17, 2011 Beth666ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this book, Casey follows weather/climate scientists, extreme surfers, and others who are interested in knowing about the biggest waves the ocean can produce. The book talks about the awesome destructive power of such waves and the implications this has for the shipping industry and also insurance agencies, as well as for low-lying coastal areas--like Japan. The most exciting parts of the book are when she tags along with surfers who specialize in giant waves. The dangers these guys take on an...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Peggy Lo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science

Reading this book made me want to go back to Hawaii again. Barring that, at least watch Hawaii 5-0 on TV. The book focuses more on the surfers than on the science, which was fine with me. I'd seen Laird Hamilton on an episode of Iconoclast before and found him fascinating and this got more into his and other surfers' view about nature and the water and riding the waves. For some, when they are in the zone it's a spiritual experience and one of them says you can't see and feel those waves and not...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Josh rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After reading the intro and getting scared to death about being on a boat caught in a massive storm, i was frighted and excited to learn more about the processes that go into forming these freak swells. I was intrigued by how ms casey would tie the surfing pursuit of big waves with the science behind how waves work together. In the end i felt that it was a failed attempt. She should have just written a biography on laird hamilton as that is largely what i felt the book was. the science and discu...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. Most of it focused on "big wave" surfers which, at first, I thought would detract from the book, but I ended up loving these chapters. I'm guessing that the author believes who better to ask about 100ft waves than the lunatics who ride them on surfboards? Their perspective is fascinating and Susan Casey is such a fantastic writer that I felt as though I was sitting on a Jet Ski with her looking at these enormous waves. I liked that the author also mixed it up by addin...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Anthony rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

It was ok. 3/4 of the book is a surfer lovefest. Maybe a Laird Hamilton crush. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Laird and all the big wave surfers. I enjoy surfing (not anywhere near their level). It is just that having watched the dvds Riding Giants and Step Into the Liquid I could have written 3/4 of this book. Ok, I will be fair 1/2 the book. I enjoyed rehashing what was already covered in the movies. I liked the maritime disasters. I wish she put more research into her book. More story...more

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Feb 27, 2011 Al rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A comprehensive consideration of big waves of the world from the point of view of surfers, mariners, climatologists, and meteorologists. All that you ever wanted to know about waves, and more. It's clear that Ms. Casey is particularly enamored (not to strong a word) of the surfers' view, and probably the surfers themselves. And no wonder. These guys are beyond crazy, seeking ever larger waves, now approaching or exceeding 100 feet. I can't even imagine that, and am motivated to find a movie or...more

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Feb 14, 2011 bryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The most challenging thing about this book was as I started I couldn't tell what the book was about: in one chapter the book would be a scientific discussion of waves on the open seas and particularly as the tear apart and sink large ships and then in the next chapter the book was about surfers and surfer culture. And then back and forth. I couldn't tell if the author intended this to be a book about waves that touched on how surfers fit into that or if it was a book about surfers with a side di...more

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About Susan Casey

Former editor of Sports Illustrated Women.SUSAN CASEY is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks. She served as creative director of Outside Magazine, where she was part of the editorial team that developed the stories behind the bestselling books Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, as well as the 200...more

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“[The waves] move across a faint horizon, the rush of love and the surge of grief, the respite of peace and then fear again, the heart that beats and then lies still, the rise and fall and rise and fall of all of it, the incoming and the outgoing, the infinite procession of life. And the ocean wraps the earth, a reminder. The mysteries come forward in waves.” — 6 people liked it

“The devices meant to float at sea and capture the waves' power have been destroyed in short order by . . . the waves. "they've all been smashed up in storms," Challenor said, shaking his head.” — 2 people liked it

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