Surfriders: In Search of the Perfect Wave

Matt Warshaw is a writer for "Surfing Magazine", which incidentally published the book. As a result, this book takes full advantage of the magazine's long lineage, filters out the fluff, and leaves even a novice surfer like me feeling like I've been surfing all of my life. Matt's writing style is simple yet elegant, and he covers just about every aspect of surfing you can imagine, from surfboard manufacturing, to Duke Kohanomaku, to surf competition, to surf culture, to Mark Foo's tragic death in the mid-1990's. The only thing he doesn't cover is "how-to", but there are enough books about that already (one good one is Doug Wermer's "Start-Up Surfing"). I highly recommend this book to all ocean-lovers, surfers and non-surfers alike. Gorgeous photo's, excellent text. Almost as good as being there.

Thoroughly loved reading Matt Warshaw's chronical of the surfing life. The chapters on "In Search Of The Perfect Wave" and "Surfari" certainly blew the Endless Summer story wide open. The whole book was well put together, and obviously researched very extensively. The photo's were great too. Recommend it to any surfer or surf lover.

I loved this book. i got it as a gift and was told to read it on the way up to our family summer house (that is on the beach where i love to surf). It has the greatest pictures and not that bad captions to go along with it. If you are a surfer it will remind you of the great times that the ocean brings and if you are not a surfer i believe it will interest you into maybe trying surfing one day. whatever or whoever you are i believe it is a winner.

Surfriders is an excellent blend of history, commentary, and contemporary writing about the sport and pastime of surfing. The photography is unbelievable and the prose engaging. The content covers everything from the beginnings of surfing with The Duke to the pressures of competition. There is an excellent section about Big Wave riding and even a look at surf culture in film. (What was the real deal with The Endless Summer?) This is a great book to experience, especially when the swell is off and there is no other surf in sight