Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

How much of your life have you spent thinking about surfing? Until a week ago my life total could've been measured in seconds. By Tuesday, having completed this review and my post-reading digestion, I fully expect to return to a life in which surfing occupies as much of my thoughts as does cricket or the economy of Kuala Lumpur. Barbarian Days has not changed my life course in any way; if anything, it makes it even less likely that I'll ever even try surfing. Not because it sounds dull—quite the contrary!—but because it's clear that the peak rewards are only for those with years to spend on it and with youthful strength and vigor.

Yet I don't in the least begrudge my hours of reading. Surfing turns out to be much more interesting than I'd imagined; more complex and profound. Part of that is Finnegan himself: it turns out, you can spend your young years as a bum, following a passion, outside the system, and still lead a meaningful life; even contributing (more than most!) to the wellbeing of our fellows. Finnegan's is a life well lived, his book a reminder that this life is too precious to waste.