William Finnegan, "Barbarian Days"

A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, Finnegan has written four books, including Dateline Soweto and Crossing the Line; his honors include two Overseas Press Club Awards. In his new book this veteran observer of socio-cultural change and political events keeps his international focus but turns the lens on himself. Charting a passion for surfing that he’s indulged on beaches from San Francisco and Hawaii to Australia and Asia, Finnegan’s memoir is by turns an adventure, an ethnographic study, and an intellectual coming-of-age story.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics & Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics & Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at www.politics-pr...

[@linxdigital]

This book helped get me and my friend obsessed with surfing! I'm in the water 2-3 hours a day here in Brazil! That San Fran chapter with Doc especially is amazing.

[@dantraficonte8752]

The San Fran chapter is maybe my favorite piece of nonfiction writing of all time. It takes you to a place and time.

[@danielbrennan3936]

I can't get over how much I enjoyed this book. There is so much reminiscing in surfing about the 'good old days' before mainstream companies took it over. Finnegan doesn't give in to that, instead he shows how through enthusiastic and obsessive living, surfing is more than the longing for the past, and way more than the companies who brand it now. I also found that surfing seemed to be an alm, and also a cause, for a lot of pain in Finnegan's life. Surfing after spending time in 1990's Balkans, and surfing a shortboard as one ages shows that the pursuit is both an escape from mortality and a reminder of it. I'll be thinking about this book for many years.

[@PlaySA]

Well said man. The duality of his surfing obsession was one of the most interesting aspects that he wrote about so well. Not just duality in terms of result, but ambivalence from himself! A part of him hated surfing and how it affected his life, and of course for the other part, surfing WAS his life. Amazing book, can't wait to give it a few years and read it again, as I do with the very best books I read.

[@bruceheadrick9469]

Great book. The opening was like reading my diary if I would have kept one. It brought back the memories, smells and the sense of the way things were living in the jungle of Waikiki 67 through 69. Thankyou

[@matthewlaborde2498]

William Finnegan's dedication to the subject throughout the book truly makes his obsession authentic, and in the end, so immensely inspiring. Every new page, there he is: searching for waves. When he's not searching for waves, he's talking to people and trying to seek truth in order to give meaning to the waves he was riding on a day-to-day basis. What's amazing to me, in the end, is that this obsession of surfing is endless (Look no further than "Endless Summer" to give you an idea), and that "perfection" can never really be discovered. In the same respect, waves are endlessly mysterious and amazingly hard to predict and to judge. So, when I embark on my surf journey, it won't be a search for the endless wave. It will be a search for meaning and truth in this endlessly mysterious and amazing world.

[@GodNGangsters]

My own Barbarian Days were similar to those of William Finnegan. Lived in the Wakikik Jungle 1967. Lived at Lahina's Animal Farm in 1969. Lived in Guam 1972. Lived at Kirra in 1973. Wrote some surf stories starting in 1972 (Surfer Magazine) until now when I am about to finish a book on Windansea. So, if I didn't have dyslexia and had lived near the beach as a kid, I might have been William Finnegan. But I'll settle for me, Chris Ahrens, and my average surfing and my to get one word in front of the other and make a living at writing. But I am glad you are you. Nobody else explains the unexplainable of surfing half as well. Thank you

[@bawbtherevelator6445]

I'm 15 years older than Finnegan and grew up in L.A. with a temperament to his but without his writing skills. Read it when it came out. I've read widely but I'll reread this. Obrigado..

[@janl5947]

The little dialogue at the end...Yes surfing appears very zen like, meditative, requiring intense concentration, taking you out out side your self....

[@meganboyd6946]

An engaging book store talk by William Finnegan, followed by a good Q&A. I've read Barbarian Days, and it's a great book about surfing and Finnegan's obsession with surfing. My only complaint re. this video is the woman questioner at the very end who goes on and on about her own love of the ocean--she didn't get the memo that the people were there to hear Finnegan, not her.

[@secretadmirer5006]

Also sounds like she says "surfriders" in the beginning, who says that now?

[@TomGoBravo]

I could see in her my own desire to connect with Finnegan and some of the characters he wrote about. I agree that wasn't the best time and likely there isn't a good time.

[@andretrindade8473]

The best book ever

[@dantraficonte8752]

One of my favorite books ever. Interesting what he says about why Mark didn’t like the NYer piece. I always assumed that it was bc if you read those two articles carefully it’s quite clear that Finnegan (1) doesn’t actually like Mark and (2) thinks PeeWee is the better surfer

[@barttuthill4043]

dude, you made me ulta- stoked ! thanks !!!!

[@rickbaamonde8188]

When he says Cloudbreak at 41:37, take a look here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6uqd3ttg7x3f8k BTW, the book is awesome and William needs to have facebook page. People want more stories, pictures, etc....

[@rickbaamonde8188]

And the break he surfed is called Restaurants. Good info here, too: www.surfline.com/surf-news/heading-into-what-looks-to-be-a-damn-fine-contest-heres-a-look-at-what-makes-these-waves-tick-mechanics-of-clo_128258/

[@thomasfrith2721]

I thought, whilst listening to the book, that the break he was talking about at Tuvaru (If that's how u spell it) was Cloudbreak. I wonder how different the 2 are from each other.

[@billbb]

yeah i like the phrase barbarian i guessing that means because surfing is not about cloths, cars, diamond necklaces , or kitchen tables or salads forks and steak forks or soup spoons or tea spoons or tucking you're napkin into you're shirt he is a barbarious surfer

[@PlaySA]

Barbarian isn't a phrase it's a word, but probably you meant "barbarian days". I think it refers to his younger life when he was essentially the family rebel, lived all over the world, surfed in extremely remote places under very difficult conditions. I mean the man contracted malaria multiple times and spent YEARS in pacific Asia trying to find the best wave. HIs story about finding Tavarua was really interesting to me

[@thomasfrith2721]

@@PlaySA There can be single word phrases.

[@ajj4483]

It actually refers to what the Christian colonists called the Pacific Island natives in the 1700s..riding waves was what they described as Barbarian. Look up his interview on the Winter Writer Symposium, he mentions it there.

[@patricktuloup3224]

bonjour ! je viens de terminer votre livre , dire qu'il est passionnant est un euphémisme kook , mais néammoins surfeur , il me semble que les amoureux des vagues savent bien ce qu'ils ont en commun imagino que voce fala portugues (madère , mozambique ).. seria que fala tambem francès ? un breton de saint malo , patrick

[@mozdickson]

that intro,,,what a snooze...

[@billbb]

Constantine P. Cavafy waiting for the barbarians

[@justink7269]

The ultimate spoiled brat surfer memoir. Loved the book. Hate the author.