The Wave: In Pursuit Of The Oceans' Greatest Furies

Author: Susan Casey

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $24.99 AUD
  • : 9780099531760
  • : Penguin Random House
  • : Vintage
  • : April 2011
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 23mm
  • : September 2011
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Susan Casey
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  • : Paperback
  • : 2011
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  • : English
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  • : 352
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  • : Illustrations (chiefly col.), maps (some col.), ports. (chiefly col.)
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Barcode 9780099531760
9780099531760

Description

Colossal rogue waves are nature's most deadly new phenomena - meet the obsessed super surfers and scientists who dare to cross their path.


This is a story about hunting for a monster. Unlike many monsters, however, this one is known to exist: the 100-foot wave. In recent years waves have been recorded which are dramatically larger in size, power and frequency than anything seen before. They have the power to flatten oil rigs and sink supertankers; more disturbingly still, they seem to disobey the laws of physics, swelling when logic shows they should be running out of steam. These rogue waves have attracted an obsessive following of scientists, who seek to understand them, and of extreme surfers, looking to tame them. New York Times bestselling author Susan Casey, talks to the climatologists trying to unlock the causes of these waves, and looks at the danger they will wreak on our planet. Every monster myth needs a hero. Here, that man is Laird Hamilton, big-wave-rider extraordinaire, star of the classic documentary, Riding with Giants, and a surfer whose acts of skill and courage are legendary. Guided by Hamilton, Casey exposes a world of obsession and dare-devil surfing, a world filled with eccentric wave-hunters – both scientists and surfers – who are universally convinced that bigger waves are coming. And that they can ride them!

Reviews

"Examines big waves from every angle, and goes in deep with . . . mariners, wave scientists and extreme surfers. . . . [A] wonderfully vivid, kinetic narrative." - The New York Times Book Review


"Immensely powerful, beautiful, addictive and, yes, incredibly thrilling. . . . Like a surfer who is happily hooked, the reader simply won't be able to get enough of it." - San Francisco Chronicle


"[An] adrenaline rush of a book. . . . As terrifying as it is awe inspiring." - People

Author description

Susan Casey, the author of the New York Times bestseller The Devil's Teeth, is the Editor-in-Chief of O, the Oprah Magazine, and has also served as creative director of Outside magazine.