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Title: Return by Water: Surf Stories and Adventures
ISBN: 0976538105
Author:
Kimball Taylor
Publicate Date: 2005-08-01
Publish: 2005-08-01
List Price: $14.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.84
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $11.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.72
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Long on Story, Short on Surf
Although the book's subtitle says "Surf Stories and Adventure," it is more about descriptive adventure than actual surf stories. In one chapter, the hills are described as, "the hides of dead dinosaurs bleaching in the sun." I don't know about you, but it's probably been a few millenniums since I saw a dinosaur hide bleaching in the sun on my way to the beach, so I have a hard time remembering exactly what they looked like. Even the adventures would not by surfing standards be considered adventuresome.
If Jerry Seinfeld was a surfer, these stories would be like sitcom episodes: interesting, but really about nothing. When the chapters ended, it was not necessarily a conclusion, but just an ending.
If you're looking for something like "Surfings Greatest Misadaventures," you will be very disappointed.
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2: don't miss this book
The adventures found within this book contain every element of a great story. Just as easily read, and just as engrossing, as stories shared around a baja campfire with your friends, Return By Water is a remarkable offering from what seems to be a first time author. Like all true travellers, taylor knows that it is the jouney, and not the destination, that make a great trip, and these trips do not disappoint! It doesn't hurt that the destinations are places most of us only dream about though! I couldn't put the book down in between stories, and now I can't stop thinking about my next adventure. Great stories, can't wait for more from Taylor.
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3: Gleaming The Tube
This is an expertly crafted memoir by surfer/author kim taylor. It's the kind of insider memoir that leaves you wishing you'd been doing something else for the last ten years of your life, though you may have never touched a surfboard. A great read for those looking for inspiration for their next adventure or those interested in comparing tales of bygone adventure.
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4: Not impressed
The cover is much more engaging than the stories. They are not bad, some interesting images, but nothing to write home about. The writing skill and the introspective is what you might expect from a surfer journalist dude. All of it very little to do with surfing actually, but more of a mediocre journalists' travel diary. As a surfer and a reader, I preferred Daniel Duanes' "A Surfer's Year on the California Coast". Sorry, guys, I could be just PMS-ing but...not really.
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5: A Terrific Read
Kimball Taylor writes with succinct clarity, beguiling empathy and a crazed, matter of fact humor that will delight most anyone who loves a story. He travels the world, knows it's oceans and understands that getting to the water and meeting the people along the way is essential to the joy of surfing.
Driving desperately through the South African outback to legendary waves - somewhere, he writes, "In a daze of passing kilometers, I begin to suspect the positioning of the potholes is not senseless, does not exist in chaos, but that each communicates in a kind of morse code. And I believe I know what they were saying. They read, dot, dot, "Get off the f*@#ing road before you die here."
Any adventurous surfer has been there, the rest of us wish that we had. Return By Water is a terrific book and will have to suffice until Kimball's next one.
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