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tintinintibet's review against another edition
5.0
Here's how I think this gets scored. +1 if "off the beaten track" is a good thing, -3 if that's pejorative. +0.5 for interest in each of the following: South Pacific, Hawaii, Malibu, San Francisco, South Africa, Portugal. Give another point if you've lived in any and another if you've driven cross country. +2 if you like the New Yorker, +2 if you're a surfer, -1 if neither applies. +2 if "camping" sounds annoyingly fancy, +1 if it makes you think of a bear canister, -1 if it means a kitchenette in the room. +1 for actually doing that math, since you'll probably also be willing to go along for the ride in this book.
davidlane47's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
brendanb11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
djr100's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. Excellent writing and the passion Finnegan had/has for surfing came through loud and clear. I simply couldn't live that passion with him and found this a bit long for my taste.
bkh8's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed the beginning of the book... dragged a little in the end
ariqbailey's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful, touching, and introspective enough to almost make you forgive how boring it can get at points. Either way, a special book.
emmay8's review against another edition
2.0
This book had potential. It started out great but then meandered into ridiculously long narratives of specific waves that made little sense to a non-surfer. William Finnegan has a vast vocabulary and it sometimes seems as if he attempted to cram every interesting word he knows into one book. The effect of this was long, slogging, overly wordy descriptions and chapters that felt endless. It picked up again towards the end and became easier to read. But then veered back into its prior verbosity which made me desperate to just finish it already. I stubbornly insisted on finishing but it was absolutely a chore.