You are hereSusan Casey discusses The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

Susan Casey discusses The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

Start: 09/19/2010 2:00 pm

End: 09/19/2010 4:00 pm

Author: Susan Casey discusses her highly anticipated new book The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean.

Susan Casey is the author of The New York Times Bestseller The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks. The editor-in-chief of O Magazine, Susan lives in New York City and Maui.

Book: The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean: From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil’s Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out. For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dismissed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary was brewing in the planet’s waters. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Sea—including several that approached 100 feet.
As scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the ocean’s most destructive monsters. The pioneer of extreme surfing is the legendary Laird Hamilton, who, with a group of friends in Hawaii, figured out how to board suicidally large waves of 70 and 80 feet. Casey follows this unique tribe of people as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100 foot wave.
In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists’ urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of waves—from the tsunami that wiped out 250,000 people in the Pacific in 2004 to the 1,740-foot-wave that recently leveled part of the Alaskan coast.
Like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, The Wave brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious.

What: Susan Casey will discuss her amazing new book accompanied by a multimedia presentation, answer audience questions, and sign copies of her work purchased from Rainy Day Books.

When: Sunday, September 19, 2010, 2:00 PM

Where: A Rainy Day Books Author Event at Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112

Admission Package: $27.95 plus Tax, includes from Rainy Day Books, One (1) Stamped Ticket, One (1) Guest Ticket (if needed) and One (1) Copy of The Wave (Hardcover) to be autographed after the presentation. All Author Event Book Sales are Final and Non-Returnable.

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