The Wave

“A wave might seem to be a simple thing, but in fact it's the most complicated form in nature. Scientists even find it difficult to agree on a basic, all-around definition of what a wave is. Many, but not all, waves move a disturbance through a medium. That disturbance is usually, but not always, energy. A wave can store that energy or dissipate it. Paradoxically, it's both an object and a motion....In order to exist, wave require a disturbing force and a restoring force.”

I knew nothing about waves before I read this book-for-book-club book; honestly, I don't think I wanted to know anything about waves.

Well, that's what I thought. Wrong.

Susan Casey is one of those amazing nonfiction writers that can take on a subject that might make you roll your eyes in boredom and explain it in ways that not only are easily understood but are also captivating.

“When you're actually on a giant wave...the experience is like a collage of sensory impressions. There may be a flash of white spray, a sudden jolt, a feeling of energy surging beneath your feet, the suspension of time so that ten seconds stretch like taffy across a violent blue universe. Inside the barrel, a place that surfers regard with reverence, light and water and motion add up to something transcendent. It's an exquisite suspension of all things mundane, in which nothing matters but living in that particular instant. Some people spend thirty years meditating to capture this feeling. Other ingest psychedelic drugs. For big-wave surfers, a brief ride on a mountain of water does the trick.”

Casey explores the world of big-wave surfers, as well as taking on stories of some of the most huge waves known to man. It is absolutely mesmerizing.

This was a fascinating book and well worth listening to. Although long, I learned a lot and found myself trolling Google for images and movies of rogue waves. I still cannot imagine the 1700-ft wave that smacked Lituya Bay, Alaska in 1958. That's nearly 1/3 of a mile. Tall. Clearly, hundred-foot waves are not the impossibility scientists once believed, and this is a fascinating peek into the surfers who seek out these monster waves.