I can’t work out – really – what the project behind The Wave was. I suspect some of it is to do with intrigue as to why some of the world’s top surfers ride the biggest waves they can find. I know people who think this is crazy but I don’t think it’s any crazier than staying in to watch some addictive television either. Crazy, like morals, are not fixed points on anyone’s compass and most people’s outlook on life changes over time.
Anyway, in the travel section of Hodges Figgis the other day, this looked interesting because I’ve a slightly more than passing interest in waves, oceanography, history, shipwrecks and stuff. Not enough to become obsessive about things, but enough, all the same to pick up books that look interest. I think the oceanography thing came from reading the Robert Ballard book about finding the Titanic when I was about 12. I got it for Christmas. I love books.
So this book is a mix of bits about the surfers, intermingling with bits of shipping and oceanography and I’m going to say that it’s reasonably well written; and engaging – but I would say that because I’ve just spent most of Easter Saturday reading it from cover to cover; stopping only to order pizza. I just am not sure I like the structure of it. The simple fact is I’d like to have had all the big wave surfing stuff together instead of breaking it up with bits about salvage, bits about research, bits about shipping and bits about how the climate is changing. It left it somewhat disjointed for me.
However, it’s one of those books I’d like to keep on the bookshelves because frankly, each piece of it is intrinsically interesting, so if you read it as a selection of separate, but linked articles, it works a little better.
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