RIDING THE MAGIC CARPET

Never judge a book by its cover

It took me a while to sit down and read this book for two reasons.

The first being simply that I find the cover so unappealing. Clunky typography and boring image. But as the old saying goes; you should never judge a book by its cover and in this case that’s absolutely true.

The second is that I’d previously read two other surf books by British authors (Andy Martin – Stealing the Wave & Alex Wade – Surf Nation) and they were both so poor I just couldn’t face trying to work my way through yet another… But finding myself without something to read, I borrowed this from my local library. Despite my prejudices I was pleasantly surprised by how good this book is.

Probably what defines this narrative is that Tom Anderson lived and breathed surfing from an early age and then went on to follow a dream that saw him travel the globe enabling him to give us first hand accounts of his experiences along the way. Although treading a path that many have taken before, Anderson manages to give his unique take on the journey. Unlike the previously mentioned books by Martin and Wade which amount to little more than professional journalists attempting to piggy back onto a scene and culture they have discovered in middle age. You get the feeling all the way through Andersons adventure that he is totally authentic.

The descriptions will chime with anyone who has loaded a board bag in search of waves. While the insights and characters discovered along the way are refreshing and unique. A great little book about riding the wave of your dreams, but at its heart is really all about the stoke riding any wave with the right attitude can give you.

Thumbs up.