It is always fun to read a book with your home town involved and I really enjoyed the casual writing of Peter Heller as he describes his initiation into the surfing world. I live in Surf City (now trademarked!), otherwise known as Huntington Beach, CA and where Heller first catches the surfing bug. Even though I have lived here and walk to the beach almost everyday, I never realized how hard it is to surf. I have watched surfers my whole life but have never tried it myself. The author takes you through the steps and you learn how easy it was for him to become addicted to the sport.

Surfing has become a violent sport since there are so many people trying it in limited space. Heller goes into brief detail about the reasons for the arguments over the real estate of waves. The writing is breathtakingly beautiful just like the scenery he is writing about. There are parts where you are on the edge of your seat and other parts where you just say "ahhhh" such as when he marries his long time girlfriend. Heller also discusses climate change and yes, one small fact about dogs: they are related to whales. Huh? I did have to go look that one up. This book is the perfect cap on summer. So if you are ever in Huntington Beach at Dog Beach before 7am, be sure to wave at me. I am the one with the mini dachshund demanding surfers to pet her.