Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life : Finnegan, William by William Finnegan

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life : Finnegan, William Reviews

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  Filipe Gil

  Amazing book, even for non surf enthusiasts. 10/10
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  Angel

  Te entretendrá y te entrarán ganas / Even if you are not a surfer this book will like you
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  Cliente goodreads

  I just started to read the book and i like it. Good vocabulary and kwnoledge of surf. I will recomended to everyone who wants to read a good book with good literature. The only objetion is that the text is to small.
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  Rich3z

  Even if you never surfed it is an incredible account writtena Pulitzer Prize winner
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  jose f rios

  Libro interesante como biografía de miembros de una generación, complementar una brillante carrera profesional con una actividad deportiva y de estilo de vida
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  em

  No lo encontraba por ningún lado, mejor libro de surf.
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  Juan S

  Tenia grandes expectativas sobre este libro y las ha cumplido!Preparate para que entren ganas de hacer la mochila y salir de viaje!
• 
  lautaro

  Excelente
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  Martin Nelson

  What an incredible read. I say this having had to look up no end of words and references throughout reading the book and even with my lack of education I was never deterred to continue reading. What a unique, honest, wise and unapologetic account from the author and as a surfer who has always been distinctly average to fundamentally crap much of what he describes are unattainable dreams for me but I loved hearing about it. I loved hearing about what are now world famous breaks when they were just discovered secret spots or local worshipers only. This autobiographical referential history of surfing makes a telling that I would liken to the first time you hear a truly great album. I may re read it but the profound feeling of balance and awe that I have been left with is truly astounding and something for which I am truly grateful to the author. thank you Mr Finnegan and for expanding my vocabulary too 🤙🙌
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  Mark Chisnell

  I didn’t expect to find a surfing memoir via a podcast about American politics, but amongst all the gloom of the Slate Political Gabfest’s coverage of the last Presidential election cycle there was a recommendation to read Barbarian DaysBill Finnegan. Soon afterwards, I heard that the book had won the 2016 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in the UK, having already picked up a Pulitzer for Biography. A surfing book? A Pulitzer? Really? The rebel alliance has clearly been sucked into the mainstream this one obviously had to be read.Bill Finnegan is a New Yorker staffer with a background in political and conflict reportage, so he knows his writing chops and has the contacts and reputation for this to come to the attention of the literary establishment in a way that most surfing books probably don’t. Having said that, this is the best book on the topic that I’ve read since Andy Martin’s Walking on Water, another minor masterpiece.He never says as much, but Finnegan is a minor hellman, a big wave surfer. Not the truly giant stuff taken onhousehold names like Laird Hamilton (ok, showing my age now) but still, this is a guy who has taken on most of the world’s best waves, including some of the heaviest. A man who has consistently surfed sessions in 10 15ft, often at breaks where reefs and rocks require complete commitment.Very few of the people that can do this can also write as well as Finnegan, and the descriptions he brings back from the wave face and ‘out the back’ in big swells ring with a sonorous truth.Bill Finnegan also captures the moment and the people beautifully, growing up in the 60s in LA and Hawaii, travelling cheap and light looking for waves in the 70s and 80s. I found myself constantly drawn back to this book, and to the water. The recent arrival of two children mean that it’s been a long while since I bothered to check the surf at the local breaks. I’m thinking that needs to change.
• 
  Surfer Nomad

  I came to this a surfer who writes, so my perspective may be distorted, however that disclaimer aside, I have found this book eminently readable, it's not a rip roaring page turner, but it is a pleasure. Finnegan captures the way that surfing changes ones life decisions without getting dragged into mystic gobbledygook. It's a phenomena all life long surfers will understand. The language is appropriate, articulate and the prose is balanced ( apart from one really bizarre typo where it seems a completely different sentence has been superimposed on another).How much a non surfer would get from this is hard to gauge, it might seem somewhat self indigent. Anyone who surfs though and has a taste for a good turn of phrase will love it
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  Robert Blythe

  I bought this for my dad (a keen surfer) and he was instantly enthralled! I have never seen him so involved in a book ever! Once he finished with it he gave it to a family friend (not a surfer) who loved it equally as much. This book is extremely well written and is sure to please surfers and non surfers alike, as technical vocabulary is explained perfectly in laymans terms without detracting from the purpose of the book. It's filled with wonderful anecdotes and is as funny as it is moving. Wonderful read!
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  JGL

  I love this book. As appears obvious it is mainly about surfing, the bonds between the surfer and the wave, the bonds between surfers themselves and the way that surfing can basically take over your life. It is also about way than that. Little snippets of science, history, psychology, sociology and geography are liberally littered around so you feel you are really learning something than just about the author. His story is fascinating and is written in a choppy, conversational style which makes the paragraphs fly by.