Like Jon Krakauers Into Thin Air, The Wave brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious. In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of wavesfrom 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. Casey follows this unique tribe of people as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100-foot wave. 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. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the oceans most destructive monsters. I couldnt help comparing 'The Wave' to Pulitzer-prize-winning author, John McPhees fascinating nonfiction books on topics ranging from atom bombs to oranges. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Seaincluding several that approached 100 feet.Īs scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. Susan Casey embeds her chilling climatological forecasts into a scintillating web of surfing stories, and other tales of adventure and tragedy on the high seas. 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 planets waters.
Until recently scientists dismissed these storieswaves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller.
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