Books for
By Greg Ambrose
the ocean lover
Special to the Star-BulletinONE of the dangers of living in a state surrounded by salt water is that most people eventually succumb to the lure of the ocean. That usually is only a problem when the ocean lover is unable to get down for a dose of sea time, or when you are searching for just the right Christmas present for that person.
One single suggestion solves both problems: brain candy, books about the ocean to keep your loved one connected to the ocean at any time, in any place, at a reasonable price. The following books are some of the better ways to make that connection.
Joyrides: By Chris Ahrens (Chubasco Publishing) 204 pages; $14.95, available at local surf shops or email chubasco@compuserve.com
ANYONE who has read Chris Ahrens' collection of surf tales titled "Good Things Love Water" will smile to learn that the prolific writer has released another treasure trove of surf stories.
Those unfamiliar with Ahrens' work are in for a treat. As he has roamed the world in search of waves, the Southern California native has extracted stories from the many famous and unknown fellow travelers he has encountered.
What Ahrens has done is to preserve the essence of surfing for posterity. After all, just as in the Hawaiian tradition, surfers pass on their history and lore in oral form, stories told around the camp fire or over a round of beers.
"Joyrides" is aptly titled, as this collection of stories has no purpose or destination, but you really don't mind, because the journey is so delightful.
Song for the Blue Ocean: By Carl Safina (Henry Holt) 458 pages; $30, available at local book stores
MOST people who ponder the ocean gaze at that vast body's beautiful surface and mesmerizing interface with the shoreline, and nod with satisfaction that all seems right in the world.
Seabird scientist and fisherman Carl Safina also sees and admires that superficial beauty. But when he takes a deeper, longer look, Safina finds it difficult not to give in to despair.
Safina embarked on an odyssey to visit a remarkable patch of the ocean from the Western Atlantic to the far Western Pacific, with an eye toward assessing the health of the ocean and its inhabitants.
He eloquently makes the case that the ocean's fisheries are in grave danger, usually directly or indirectly the result of human activity. But rather than leave the reader in despair, Safina provides some small but bright rays of hope that there is time to preserve our ocean resources for our children. All it takes is "heart, hope and unusual courage."
Safina possesses a rare, delightful combination of scientific observation and literary grace that makes this book satisfying on several levels. It's obvious that the ocean captured Safina's heart at an early age, and clear that his heart aches over what humans have done to his beloved ocean. But as a marine scientist, he is in a better position than most to help heal the ocean's wounds through word and deed.
With rich anecdotal detail and in a variety of settings, Safina likens the plight of the ocean's creatures to that of the buffalo, and warns that we should learn from the slaughter of the buffalo and not repeat that costly blunder.
This book is much more than a series of tales designed to inspire readers to respect an protect the ocean. It is filled with stories of wonder and delight, moments of pure pleasure that only the ocean can provide.
Safina has a special gift for description and an even greater talent for weaving the colorful threads of his stories into a tribute to the ocean that puts the diverse traumas of the ocean's suffering into a global perspective.
Big Surf, Deep Dives and the Island: By Ricky Grigg (Editions Limited), 180 pages, 150 illustrations; $35 hardcover, $25 softcover. At surf shops and book stores; or fax (808)-956-9516; or e-mail rgrigg@soest.hawaii.edu
SURFING is now way cool, and as the surf-oriented literary lineup becomes as crowded as the lineup at the Banzai Pipeline during Triple Crown season, many greet the release of another surfing book with the same lack of enthusiasm as watching a pack of strangers paddle out to one's favorite spot.
But "Big Waves, Deep Dives and the Islands" is different. University of Hawaii professor Rick Grigg has had a much deeper relationship with the ocean than many of his surfing contemporaries. And while his book is filled with interesting insights and anecdotes from surfing's golden years, Grigg covers the ocean from the waves on the surface to the creatures on the ocean floor.
This book is a feast for the eyes, with excellent photos, arresting layout and graphics, and a splendid attention to detail.
Grigg is an interesting character who has managed a difficult balancing act, living comfortably in two worlds: the fun, shallow world of riding waves on the ocean's sunny surface and the complex and difficult world studying secrets of it's darkest depths.
He is a coral expert with UH and a big wave expert who has maintained his love of surfing while meeting the demands of his scientific career. Freed from the strictures of writing academic papers for peer review, Grigg indulges in a different style of writing for a separate set of peers: surfers.
The result does not quite do justice to the depth and breadth of his subject, nor Grigg's many fascinating experiences diving for pearls in Tahiti and precious corals in Hawaii, pioneering big waves and living on the ocean floor as a Sea Lab II aquanaut.
With his diverse talents, it would be unfair for Grigg to also be an exceptional writer. But throughout, Grigg's love of the ocean is evident, and the writing will appeal to anyone who has followed the sea's siren call beyond the shore. Grigg also extracted stories of the golden years of California and Hawaii surfing from the usually reticent Joe Quigg, Buzzy Trent, Peter Cole and Randy Rarick.
For the academically inclined, Grigg provides an interesting and informative chapter on wave mechanics and swell generation, along with surf forecasting.
For those overly impressed with human accomplishments of riding waves, Grigg provides an ego-bursting description of how plate tectonics helped the Hawaiian Islands rise from the ocean floor, and descend again, wiping out all traces of human habitation. He also provides an important public service message on water safety that could save lives.
Even if just its historical value, this book is an important addition to any surfer's library.
America's Best Beaches: By Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman (self-published), 112 pages, color photos; $17.95. Available by calling (888)-topbeaches; or go on-line www.topbeaches.com
STEPHEN Leatherman maintains an exhausting schedule devising hurricane preparedness plans, monitoring vanishing seashores, testifying before Congress, writing professional papers, speaking at scientific conferences, writing books and producing documentary films.
When it all becomes too hectic, he heads to the beach to unwind, and take notes.
The result of his wanderings is "America's Best Beaches," an outgrowth of his yearly beach rankings, which he uses as a soapbox to point out shoreline problems.
Leatherman, aka Dr. Beach, created a user-friendly book that divides American's main ocean coastlines into regions, then uses maps and icons to show each region's best swimming, walking, wilderness, sports, city, novelty, surfing and overall beaches.
"A lot of people in the U.S. have only been to certain types of beaches. I wanted them to be aware of all the different types of beaches, where they come from, how they are formed, how the sand is different," he says.
The book is filled with great photos that just might make you start planning your next excursion to the shore. It also contains informative descriptions of the processes that create beaches over millennia, and the human activities that destroy them in decades.
"The biggest threat to the world's beaches is overpopulation," the doctor says. "Too many people are trying to live on the coast. They are loving the beaches to death.
"With all those people comes all their pollution: fertilizers, oil, tar from cars, insecticides, storm runoff. And now we have a worldwide problem of beach erosion, where people build sea walls to protect their houses."
Leatherman does not think of beaches as just beautiful scenery. To him they are active biospheres that prosper and decline dramatically with human interaction.
The book is an attempt to inspire people to enjoy and protect these special areas. Leatherman provides evidence that beautiful beaches still abound along America's coastlines. HIs book could spark a real wanderlust among readers, but by the last chapter, one realizes that Hawaii's beaches are no ka oi.
Leatherman betrays his aloha for Hawaii's beaches when he empties his bag of superlatives in his chapter on the isles: "In Hawaii, you're used to all types of beaches: red, green, black, rocky, flat, volcanic, low-lying like Waikiki, with dramatic mountains nearby, surrounded by tropical flowers," he says. "You're spoiled there, you've got everything."
