Hang Ten With the Coolest Surfing Book Ever Written

Submit to waves of glorious surf photos in this coffee table crusher.

Over 200 years and nearly 600 pages of surfing culture make a book nearly as big as your board and twice as bitchin’. Surfing: 1778-2015, the latest XL tome from Taschen, is edited by “cultural anthropologist” and graphic design guru Jim Heimann, costs a cool 200 bucks, and is well worth it for the gargantuan gatefolds alone.

Heimann spent nearly four years researching the subject and collecting archival images, over 900 of which appear in the book. Charting the evolution of surfing as “a sport, a lifestyle, and a philosophy,” Heimann covers everything from the history of surf trunks to the legendary spots that have drawn legions of surfers to carve and shred tasty waves over the decades.

Heimann traces the beloved ocean sport back to 1778 and the wave-riding natives encountered by Captain James Cook when he became the first European to arrive at the Hawaiian Islands, through to the modern day megabucks business catering to 20 million surfers, charting its influence on fashion, film, art, and music along the way. 

There are accompanying essays by the world’s top surf journalists, one of whom declares: “There has never been a surfing book like this, and there will never be another one again.” You heard the man…..