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The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
Unavailable
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
Unavailable
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
Audiobook10 hours

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

Written by Susan Casey

Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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 decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary was brewing in the planet's waters. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Sea-including several that approached 100 feet.

As scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the ocean's most destructive monsters. The pioneer of extreme surfing is the legendary Laird Hamilton, who, with a group of friends in Hawaii, figured out how to board suicidally large waves of 70 and 80 feet. Casey follows this unique tribe of peo­ple as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100­-foot wave.

In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists' urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of waves-from the tsunami that wiped out 250,000 people in the Pacific in 2004 to the 1,740-foot-wave that recently leveled part of the Alaskan coast.

Like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, The Wave brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 14, 2010
ISBN9780307578082
Unavailable
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
Author

Susan Casey

Susan Casey is the editor in chief of O, The Oprah Magazine. She was previously the editor in chief of Sports Illustrated Women and an editor at large for Time Inc.'s 180 magazine titles. She also served as the creative director of Outside magazine where, with editor Mark Bryant, she led the magazine to three consecutive, history-making National Magazine Awards for General Excellence. At Outside she was part of the editorial team that developed the stories behind Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm. Her writing has appeared in Esquire, Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. She is the author of The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks, The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, and Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins. She lives in New York City.

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Reviews for The Wave

Rating: 3.796703343589744 out of 5 stars
4/5

273 ratings46 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    So this book actually gave me nightmares... I dreamed I was on a long narrow boat, on a lovely blue sea, watching whales... when one leaped out of the water, and the resulting splash-down caused an enormous wave that swamped our boat, and next thing you know I'm faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalling and trying to remember not to breathe and figure out which way is up.

    Anyway. I originally thought this book was about, like, giant squid and weird undersea creatures. It's not; it's an entire book about giant waves. They're a lot more common than you'd think, and now I'm pretty much sure I don't want to live anywhere near the ocean ever in my life.

    But it's not written to be scary, really; it's an obscure topic that she's documented from several angles, one of the big ones being surfing, because for surfers, big waves are actually a positive development.

    Unless the wave is 1,700 feet high, like the one that hit a bay in Alaska a few decades ago and literally sucked the barnacles off of rocks.

    I'd write more -- I really did learn a lot -- but I'm still a little shellshocked.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This books touches on many fascinating topics that I love to read about - big wave surfing, Hawaii, oceanography and climate change. Susan Casey's meticulous research blends them all seamlessly together in an absorbing read that asks the questions: What causes rogue or freak waves? Are they getting worse? What effect do they have on us? Her research takes her among the big wave surfing elite of Laird Hamilton & David Kalama to an international conference of oceanographers and physicists to Lloyd's of London and to high risk ocean salvage operators in South Africa. The descriptions of huge waves will astound you, and the statistics of ocean accidents will make you think twice before booking your next cruise.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent. I had no idea I'd be so captivated by a book about waves and surfing!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love waves, I am fascinated by them, and while I have never surfed, I love the idea of it. This book is the perfect combination of surfers chasing after big waves, and the science (and history) of big waves - including many stories of ships lost at sea, etc. More than just including research (which there is a lot of), Casey includes many interviews and gets right in to the heart of it with the surfers, heading out with them on their adventures, and takes the readers along for the ride.I received this book as an ARC from the publisher via a Shelf Awareness ad.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fascinating
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mariners have always told tales of giant waves swallowing ships without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle and the North Atlantic are famous for the mysterious disappearance of ships. Waves of increased size and intensity are among the predicted consequences of global warming. Against this background, Susan Casey has written about the history of giant waves, the science of predicting these waves, and the extreme surfers who travel the globe in search of monster waves.Casey gained access to an amazing array of wave specialists, from meteorologists and oceanographers to ship captains and insurance underwriters. Wave science requires intense mathematics, and the science was dumbed down for public consumption, but the interviews with technical experts were among the best parts of this book.The sections describing historical giant waves and modern wave science are interspersed with sections on the extreme surfer community. Casey obviously has an affinity for these surfers, who are supported by corporate sponsors as they pursue record rides. I found these sections less interesting, partially because I don’t surf, and partially because many of these people seem to have far more bravado and sense of entitlement than actual athletic ability.I obtained The Wave from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Her first book was one of my favorites. I liked this one, but it's a little too surfer heavy for me. She definitely delves deep into their word, and she's very descriptive, but I still had a hard time picturing what these surfers were doing. But a wave swallowing a ship - that I can understand a little better, even if it is outrageous. So I guess I enjoyed what she was writing during the chapters about waves eating ships, but I enjoyed the actual writing itself more when she was writing about the surfers.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Part Surfer Magazine and part scientific journal this book was a grand read from start to finish.
    Susan Casey hangs with the greatest surfing talents out there and moreover,listens and learns from them managing to convey their respect and awe of the ocean they challenge.
    She regales with tales and solid facts from salvage captains, surfers, photographers, scientists of all types. Combining meteorology, climatology, oceanography along with riveting stories of high seas adventures and derring-do I enjoyed this book more than I would have imagined.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A little geology, a little geography, a little oceanography, a little history, and a whole lot of adreneline roll together to make a fun beach read. Really enjoyed this!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rogue Waves - that sneak up. Ship captains who, now - years later, are being believed about 80-100 foot waves.
    The World of Surfing - where waves are tracked around the world. Surfers who compete to ride 80 ft waves.
    Great book with extremely interesting info.
    Be careful out there on your cruise ships . . . . . .
    Read in 2011.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Solid 4-stars...I liked how Casey alternated chapters looking at waves scientifically/historically and in the surfing world. I wish there had been more women featured in this...thank goodness there were a few female scientists present, but my Midwest, landlubber perception of modern-day surfing barely expanded beyond it being a male-dominated, clannish, and often sexist sport (and pretty white, too). Nevertheless, Casey wrote about the study of rogue waves with appropriate finesse and melodrama. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

    The reader for the audio version, Kirsten Potter, was definitely one of the better readers I've encountered in my burgeoning audiobook explorations, though some of Hawaiian and Spanish pronunciations made me wince.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Waves can be thought of small and harmless, as they wash gently against your feet on a sun kissed beach. But they have a darker side, an ability to become an enormous destructive force that can obliterate landscapes, cities and ships.

    Fifteen years ago scientists did not believe the reports of 100 foot high waves that appeared from nowhere in calm seas to sink boats. Their models didn’t show them, and they thought they were myths or just wrong estimates of the height of the wave. But then there were two instances, an oil rig that had sensors fitted to record the heights of the waves beneath the platform, and a research ship in the Atlantic that was caught in a horrendous storm. The measurements proved what scientists didn’t believe was possible; that not only did these monster waves exist, and they occurred frequently.

    Each year a number of ships disappear completely without trace. It was thought that it was because of maintenance or other factors, but it is now believed that some of them are completely overwhelmed by these freak waves. Casey visits Lloyds in London to see the register of lost ships and talk to the insurance giant about ship losses. It is thought that around two big ships a week are lost, mostly bulk carriers, and there are pictures in the book of ships with their bows ripped off, and 70 foot high decks being covered with water

    She spends a lot of time with those at the leading edge of surfing. This select group are the guys who only want to surf the giant 60 foot plus waves. This is a dangerous game, and even though the safety equipment has improved since the beginning, lives are lost every year. A lot of these waves are formed by the geology in particular coastal areas and this forces the wave higher and increases the danger as they are above reefs or close to cliffs. To even get onto these wave require the surfer to be towed onto the wave behind a jet ski..

    Even thought this is a nonfiction book about the sea, it reads like a thriller. Casey’s writing add drama and eloquence to the drama of being on a ship that is at the mercy of the sea, the anticipation of the surfers waiting for that perfect 100 foot wave and the scientists who are humbled by the power of the natural world.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An interesting read. I was more interest in the scientific chatter on rogue waves than I was on the surfers taking on huge waves around the world. The rogue wave is frightening and apparently not rare. It made me reluctant to get on a ship again. The book is worth the detour, especially if you are into surfing which I am not.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I picked up this book because everything about it intrigued me, the cover, the title, the photos, and so forth. The beginning of the book was fairly interesting and read a lot like fiction. It did take an unexpected turn a quarter of the way through as Susan Casey began following surfers around asking for their opinions and experiences with rogue waves. While that was fine, I think she devoted entirely too much of the book to a surfer's experience with waves. I had hoped that she would talk a lot more about massive ocean liners being overtaken by waves over 100 feet high. I would have liked to have heard the testimonials of the survivors of those rogue waves. In short, I feel like this book could have been MUCH shorter, which would have made it a more entertaining read because then Casey wouldn't have seemed like she was repeating herself everytime she jumped into a jeep with a bunch of surfers to chase a freak wave. I picked this up because I like the ocean; I find it terrifying, beautiful, and destructive. I will give Casey credit for depicting it as all those things in her book. Even if you don't read the entire book, I think you can pick out certain chapters and still keep up with the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting and at times riveting, The Wave is the story of the ocean's giant and rogue waves -- and the people who try to surf them.

    Half the book focuses on the science of giant waves and their effects on coastal communities and shipping; the other half follows big wave surfing's best-known names as they traverse the globe in search of giant waves to surf -- including the mythical 100' monster.

    The science portions are almost as interesting as the picture Susan Casey paints of Laird Hamilton, the world's premier (and best known) big wave surfer.

    Hamilton and a close-knit of friends chase waves so big they almost literally can't be surfed, and to fall invites severe injury or even death (several big wave surfers died while Casey was writing the book).

    It's a wholly worthwhile, very interesting read (even though I'll never go near the ocean again...).

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Recommended by Meghan at OlyReads Book Club. As with All the Devils Are Here, lost my bookmarks when the book checked itself back in.

    Great writing; would have liked more science and/or shipping stories, although she does make the tales of the surfers quite compelling. Only afterwards did the macho/privileged nature of their adventures bug me. Then again, she's got quite a background as a sports writer, so maybe it's only natural.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    couldn't get into it but very well written; great for those who love the ocean
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Don't be fooled... this isn't a scientific exploration of rogue waves, but a book on big wave surfing supplemented by a number of different perspectives on the devestation of big waves.Just like Devil's Teeth, Casey is at her best as a writer when she's inserting herself in the story and developing brilliant character studies of those around her. Laird Hamilton is the primary focus of this book. Hamilton is perhaps the world's most famous pioneer of big wave surfing. Casey's study of big wave surfing and its main protaganists is compelling, however the pace of the book is often interrupted as she searches for different perspectives on waves to broaden the book's reach.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had no idea water could be so strong. Entertaining like Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and informative in a Bill Bryson kind of way (minus the humor). A very good book and for many stretches a book difficult to set down. I can't recommend enough that when reading The Wave to be close to Youtube to check out video of some of the surfing spots Casey mentions. Casey's writing is very descriptive, but sometimes seems out of place and forced. However, I will give her the benefit of the doubt in saying that I think she used it to keep the reader's attention. Casey goes to great lengths to discuss the perils of ocean liners while out at sea, and goes to greater lengths to discuss surfers that work closer to shore. Both scenarios present very interesting information, but Casey's assertion that big-wave riders being able to help scientists in the study of waves is tenuous. Despite some of the easily forgotten flaws, this book is awesome. One of it's central themes is climate change (whether man made or not) and how rising ocean levels are effecting us socially, economically, and, becoming of even greater importance and magnitude, geographically.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An introduction to what really goes on beneath the waves. Despite my love for beaches and swimming in the sea, I'd never really given much thought to waves except that to me, they ranged from gentle rolls, exciting crests to thunderous and dangerous walls. What I got out of this book was an engaging look at Laird Hamilton and his surfing philosophy, some really interesting interviews with scientists on how global warming is likely resulting in larger waves being formed, including some freakishly sudden waves that seemingly leap out without warning, and an armchair journey around the globe to visit some of the world's big waves and the big named surfing stars who flock in to try and conquer them, the failure of which sometimes end tragically.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    i was less interested in the surfing part of this. as i was listening it took me half the book to figure out that tow surfing was not toe surfing. but the tsunami and rogue wave part was interesting.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Having picked this up on the strength of her sympathetic bubbly interview in The Daily Show, I was a bit disappointed by the book. There are in fact two contradictory themes in the book. The first is a surfer chick's adventure story seeking the crazy men chasing dangerous waves in the mold of the great flick "Point Break". This is a story about the development of sport technologies as well as its commercial exploitation. The surfer as a rebel and outsider, dangerous to society and to himself, is turned into a branded circus exhibit. A bit more reflection and distance, and a bit less drooling and objectifying, could have improved that theme.The second theme, exemplified by the movie "The Perfect Storm", I found much more interesting. Tsunami and freak waves caused by earthquakes are catastrophic events of extremely low frequency. As few of their victims survive such an onslaught, there is a scarcity of both data and awareness. The sea (and especially the Pacific Sea) is still a dangerous place where minute inattention can spell doom for a ship, its cargo and its crew. As long as commercial insurance and the life of a ship's Third World crew remains cheap, ships will not be built to withstand such freak accidents. The author at least whetted my appetite to read more about meteorological disasters which are bound to increase due to the human propensity to build closer to the sea and the global climate changes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found the story a bit hard to follow at times, though at the beginning of the book I was intrigued by the information provided about big waves: where and when they have occurred, who was chasing them, why, etc.As I read on, however, I was disappointed by what seemed a dwindling of facts and figures and science. It's not that I love facts and figures, and I know they can cause a narrative to get bogged down, but it seemed like the book jumped to giving a little information about the surfers, a little about waves, a lot about following Laird Hamilton and his crew, a tiny about wave research and wave impact, some more about following the surfers, a bit about scientists tracking the waves, and a bunch more about following Hamilton's crew.I got the feeling that the author tried to cover too much and as a consequence didn't cover anything satisfactorily. Even at first, I was okay with following the surfers and their highs and their pursuit of the waves, but after a while, it seemed to be the same story over and over again, with very little keeping my interest in them.I rated the book a 4, though I really would have preferred to give it a 3.4 or 3.5.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Sea monsters exist. They break ships in half and pull them below the waves. Sometimes they swallow them whole. Most who encounter them never return to tell the tale and those few who do, until very recently, were rarely believed.I am referring to rogue waves, which until only the last decade or so, have been dismissed as myths, merely sailor’s tall tales. Only in roughly the last ten or fifteen years has the existence of rogue waves been fully documented and accepted by oceanographers. Scientists are only beginning to gain some understanding of how and where the waves rise up from the oceans to crush the unfortunate and the unlucky.I am intrigued, fascinated and a bit frightened by rogue waves, so when I saw Susan Casey’s new book, “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean” I was excited. I want to learn more a about rogue waves and this book looked like it could tell me what I wanted to know. Sadly, was I wrong. Very wrong.Casey’s book is a hyper-kinetic jumble which primarily focussed on surfing. Yes, surfing. And not just any surfing but specifically an extreme form of surfing involving jet skis called “tow surfing.” What does this have to do with rouge waves? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing.We should first define out terms. From Wikipedia, not Ms. Casey’s book, the following definition: “rouge waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves that occur far out in sea, and are a threat even to large ships and ocean liners. In oceanography, they are more precisely defined as waves whose height is more than twice the significant wave height (SWH), which is itself defined as the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave record. Therefore rogue waves are not necessarily the biggest waves found at sea; they are, rather, surprisingly large waves for a given sea state. Rogue waves are not tsunamis, which are set in motion by earthquakes [and] travel at high speed, building up as they approach the shore. Rogue waves seem to occur in deep water or where a number of physical factors such as strong winds and fast currents converge.“Ms. Casey spends most of her book following around a band of extreme surfers who travel the world looking for those places where ocean swells collide with reefs and generate huge breaking waves. This is all well and good except that breaking waves and crazy surfers have nothing to do with rogue waves. She also spends considerable time on tsunamis, often shifting directly from a discussion of rouge waves to tsunamis, unaware or unconcerned that the two have relatively little to do with one another.It only gets worse when she starts discussing ships. She seems to know that there are ships called bulk carriers, that they sink frequently and that having hatch covers ripped off in heavy weather is a bad thing. Beyond that things get really fuzzy. She does mention he sinking of the LASH ship MS München, but she calls it a container ship, rather than a barge carrier with a load cargo of steel products stored in her 83 lighters. In this case, the details do matter. It appears highly likely that the München was struck by a rogue wave. What is known of her sinking is a fascinating if horrifying tale, which Ms. Casey chooses not to tell.She goes on at greater length regarding the sinking of the MV Derbyshire, which may or may not have been sunk by a rogue wave. A study performed in 2000 suggests the Derbyshire sank due to progressive flooding in a typhoon. An excellent animation of how the ship is believed to have sunk can be found here for anyone who may be interested.Ms. Casey also seems to have a touch of xenophobia regarding the ship’s crews. Her repeated references to “third wold crews” do not appear complimentary. In discussing the Derbyshire she notes, “unlike other lost ships, this one wasn’t flying a Liberian flag and manned by Laotian sailors.” Elsewhere she comments on the global crew shortage: “This lack of expertise was especially troubling given the next-generation ships, floating colossi with complex computer navigation systems to master, not always a snap when the manual’s written in German and you speak only Tagalog.” Obviously crew training is important but it is hard to tell if she is making that point or simply insulting Philippine mariners. And like so much else in the book, it has very little to do with rouge or freak waves.Ms. Casey is the editor of Oprah Winfrey’s magazine “O” and the Wave reflects a certain style of personality driven journalism. Often the book feels like a series of profiles of the surfer dudes who surf huge waves and the scientists who study the huge waves. After several chapters of following the surfers doing insane things on massive breakers, Ms. Casey finally goes to a conference on waves where we meet the scientists, learn that the math they use is really complicated and very little else. She never does the hard work of finding someone to translate the scientific jargon and mathematics into language understandable to the layman. Mostly she appears bored, preferring to be back out with the surfers. “The presentations continued in a blur of wave theory while outside the real waves grew. Surfers streaked past, filling the windows.”We do get nice little portraits of each scientist and surfer. At the conference we come to know more what the scientists look like and wore more than what they are working on. Just two examples of many:Peter Janssen was up next, and he unfolded his tall, wiry frame from his chair and strode to the podium. He had wild gray hair, a peppery beard, and a strict, professorial appearance that seemed intimidating until you noticed the sparkle in his eyes.It was impossible not to like Cavaleri, a whip-smart man in a no-nonsense plaid shirt, his sleeves rolled up, his caterpillar eyebrows jumping around on his face, his hands swimming through the air.And so on and so on.In the end “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean” comes off as primarily a travelog of a journalist hanging with lots of surfer dudes and a few scientists. If you want to learn about the people who do crazy things on surf boards on huge waves, then this is the book for you. If you want to learn anything about rogue or freak waves, you are better off just doing a Google search.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Explores the world of elite surfers who follow the biggest waves in the world while they search for the elusive hundred-foot plus waves. It's as close as most of us will ever get to riding a wave like that. And why do the waves get so large, and are they wreaking havoc on ships more often ? It's all explained in her interviews with wave scientists, ship recovery captains, and other ocean specialists. The science is painless and interesting. A great book to read on a winter weekend while you imagine those blue crashing waves.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is utterly fascinating, even for readers who have no interest in surfing or oceanography. Casey has presented an extremely well-researched work that includes information on global warming and environmental consequences and the extreme sport of tow surfing. I loved the conversational, easygoing tone to the novel, which helped immensely in getting through some of the more depressing anecdotes. I will definitely recommend this book to others.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Susan Casey is on the hunt for the elusive and destructive giant wave. These massive and calamitous giants are a seafarer's most unpredictable enemy and have been responsible for untold devastation and ruin through the ages. Rumors of these giant waves have abounded for centuries, but because the equipment with which to measure them has only been in existence for a short time, these tales have remained just rumors. As Casey explores the possibility of giant waves, she immerses herself into the tow surfing culture, a group of extreme surfing daredevils led by Laird Hamilton, who use jet skis to launch themselves into the paths of 80 foot waves, and travel hundreds of miles to find the elusive hundred-footer they long to ride. Casey also seeks out scientists and wave specialists to educate herself and her readers on the phenomenon of these monstrous waves and finds what the formation of these rouges says about climate change and undersea plate tectonics. Shifting perspectives between the hair-raising exploits of the tow surfers and the more sedate offices of some of the foremost wave researchers, Casey sheds light on a little known and frightening phenomenon lurking in the troubled ocean.I have a very strange relationship with non-fiction. Though I'm usually very choosy when it comes to non-fiction reads, I've lately begun to branch out due to my success with the genre and find that I'm really receptive to non-fiction as a whole. It gives my brain a little more to chew on, and though I am not an expert in retaining the facts these books present, I find that non-fiction gives me a lot of information about previously untried subjects. All that being said, there are just some books that I find too dense and scientific to be able to properly enjoy and understand, and though there were sections of this book that I devoured, there were others which I fear went right over my head. I'm certainly no expert on the ocean, or waves for that matter, and though Casey did an amazing job elucidating her subject matter, I had some periods of utter confusion while reading this book.What I really enjoyed about this book was the focus on the tow surfers. These were serious dudes who respected the ocean and its massive waves but were not afraid to put their lives on the line to catch the perfect monster curl. I had a lot of respect for Hamilton and his crew and was holding my breath each time they paddled out and got on their boards. There was a lot of carnage in these sections and Casey had a way of making these recollections seem breathtaking and sometimes surreal. It seems crazy to me that these men were willing to take these kinds of risks, but Casey and the surfers explain it in a way that is completely understandable, and as a reader, I could accept that though the risks were great, the thrill of the ride and the hunt for the perfect wave could be life-altering for the surfers.When the book got into the realm of explaining the science behind rouge waves, I began to feel a little lost. There was a lot here to digest and some of it went beyond a lay person's capacity for understanding. I did get a majority of the reasoning and science, but at times I tuned out a little and became frustrated by the heavy extrapolating. Casey explains how these unpredictable waves have caused massive devastation in the form of tsunamis and how even big oil corporations can be taken unaware and adversely affected. It seems a lot of the early wave science was trial and error, and I gathered that there is no real way for anyone to know exactly when a giant wave could come rolling in. Estimations and plotting can be done, but the prediction of giant waves is not an accurate science as of yet. When Casey speaks to Al Osborne, he does a great job explaining just how a rouge wave forms and acts, and it was in this easy and common description that I began to appreciate the nuances of waves and the terrible power they wield.Not only does Casey talk with the tow surfers and the scientists, she also speaks with people who have been a witness to the giant waves and finds out just what living through one of these events is like. It sounds truly terrifying and I found it amazing that there are people who have not only seen a giant wave, but who have survived it. There was also, apparently, a contest sponsored by a well known surfing company to award a monetary prize to the surfer who successfully rode a hundred-foot wave. This stuck me as insanity, and because of this, many surfers were seriously injured. The Laird Hamilton faction most intelligently frowned upon this contest, but it didn't stop some surfers from trying to ride a wave they most certainly weren't ready for. These bits of the book were like candy to me, and I couldn't help reading them over and over, trying to gauge the monstrosity that can come from a hundred-foot wave.Though this book was a little harder for me to digest than most of the non-fiction I've read, I still consider it a great success because I learned so much about rouge waves and the people who've encountered them, either in their work or in their play. While some of the sections that revolved around the science behind the waves was rather intimidating, the exploits of the tow surfers really made me want to stick with the book and continue on the journey. Casey has done something marvelous in this book, and readers who love unpredictable non-fiction will love it. As for me, well, I just want to shake Laird Hamilton's hand.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When I decided to read The Wave I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The ocean, waves and the science behind them was a subject I was interested in but I didn’t see how someone could write an entire book about them. It didn’t take me long to find out. This book sucked me in immediately. There is a lot to learn about our oceans and the people who study them, sail them and surf them. In one word, fascinating.This is not a dry facts and figures science book. Susan Casey writes in a wonderfully descriptive and engaging style. The book reads like a novel but at the same time you are digesting scientific data and amazing facts. She makes the science easy to understand and the descriptions of the surfers, the waves and the rough seas come to life.The author traveled with surfer Laird Hamilton and his friends, all extreme surfers that seek out giant waves. These are not just any big waves, they are 60, 70 and even 100 foot high waves. They are not the kind of waves one can paddle out to; they require the surfer to get a tow with a jet ski and have a teammate to rescue them when they hit the surf. There is little margin for error. They risk serious injury and even death when slammed by the force of one of these waves. Their amazing adventure is told in alternating chapters with the story of the scientists and their aspirations to understand how and why these giant waves are formed.Every two years wave scientists gather at a conference to exchange information on wave research. This has become a hot topic since the 2004 Indonesian tsunami and the recent concerns of how climate change could affect the world’s oceans. The warmer the water the more volatile the seas become with more destructive storms and larger waves. It is also theorized that with the sea level rising due to the melting of the ice cap there is more pressure on ocean bottom resulting in a greater number of underwater earthquakes and, as a result, tsunamis. Again, fascinating stuff.Each year more than two dozen large ships and their crews go missing. It usually gets explained away as bad weather and is never studied in the same way an airplane crash is analyzed. These scientists want to change that and are now investigating disappearing ships. The author meets with many of the scientists, attends their conventions and explains the research to us in such a clear way that we don’t have to know calculus or chaos theory to understand it. I had no problem following along and I haven’t taken a science or math class in years.If you enjoy reading about adventure I highly recommend this book. You may not want to go on a cruise or a swim in the ocean after you read it but I know you will be amazed, awed and entertained.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world.” Yes, that’s the Beach Boys and if Brian Wilson would have caught a glimpse of one of these monster waves, he might have started hitting the LSD much earlier. Like the title suggests, this is a book about waves, mostly of the freakishly large variety. Casey travels the world, visiting scientists and other experts, trying to find some answers to the origins of these deadly rogues, that can turn a super cargo ship, into a crumpled beer can in a matter of seconds, but even with satellite tracking and other advanced technology, these answers can be elusive. The one thing that is clear though, due to climate change, the oceans are getting warmer and more volatile. The author ends up zeroing in on the big-wave surfing community, a ballsy group of mavericks, who hunt down these “giants”, for the ultimate thrill. Her descriptions of what is called tow-surfing, (where the surfer is hauled up to the wave by jet ski) are very exciting and quite scary. “Everything‘s okay until it isn’t.” goes a famous saying, which seems to sum up this dangerous sport, very nicely. Recommended.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Entertaining, but too much Susan Casey, too much macho fetishism.