‘The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean’ is one of Susan Casey’s best literary works. In the bewildering literature, the author captures massive, ship wrecking waves, the scientists and surfers who dedicate their lives to finding them. For the author, it is an adventure she will live to remember and cherish as long as she is alive and kicking. The waves are as tall as the highest crater and as usual, after the formation of a wave; it rises then topples over on the ocean. Hence, the waves may be dangerous or beneficial depending on the reader’s own perspective and take on the book. More so, the book takes the reader on an exciting adventure and exposes her audience to huge 80 feet waves. These waves are destructive when they come into contact with oilrigs and ship.
Author’s ideas
The book explores the world of gigantic waves and their ever-increasing scope, financial destruction associated with them, and most importantly the loss of life that they leave in their wake. She goes on to describe the existing types of waves that is, from the rogue to the tsunamis. In addition, she uses the knowledge of the people living near the coast to bring into perspective the concept of the people. The fact that she pursues an issue people rarely converse about, yet scientists prove that the waves have an impact on the climate and the adjacent activities goes to reveal the role of the work and her determination to ensure that the world knows about the gigantic waves.
The author ensures her words translate into meaning and converts meaning into thoughts. In turn, the thoughts spin in the head of the reader as she tries to find a footing on the exemplary book. The perspectives of the author come out crispy clear; one can almost hear the author whisper in the ear of the reader as he reveals his perceptions. Does not play around words. Instead, he weaves them around to explain the rationality behind the violence experienced in oceans. Decoupling fascinating facts and ensuring the reader gets unbiased information, she lays bare the factors that fuel the interests of the scientists and surfers.
Casey is a good narrator as she convinces the reader while at the same time entertains effortlessly. She refers to waves as monsters abiding among human beings. More so, Casey’s association with Hamilton, her dependable expert who walks her through the intricate formation of the waves thus Casey does not experience any difficulty all through her trip and experiences other side of the Ocean she never knew existed.
Casey journeys all over the world and into the history, to research more on the waves that shake and rock the oceans. This expedition is dangerous and comprises rogue waves located in southern Africa, rainstorm waves of Hawaii and the largest waves ever documented in history, as tall as 1740 feet all (this is as tall the Empire states skyscrapers). The huge waves blasted the Alaska shoreline in the year 1958. Casey tracks the huge wave and the surfers who often make suicidal attempts while trying to challenge such waves. She interviews scientists researching the risks of the climate change and global warming. Casey pens persuasive facts of both dangers and aesthetic beauty of the seas and oceans at its utmost threatening state. The readers acquire first-hand information on Casey’s expedition and clear past renovations as she narrates how the surfers risk their lives.
As experts struggle to comprehend the huge wave phenomenon, surfers perceive waves as a contest. These extreme surfers are in a mission to tour the world in search of the largest ocean waves. Then after finding the waves, the surfers ride the destructive waves. Hamilton is one of the extreme surfers, surfs with his friends in Hawaii. Interesting enough, the surfer found ways of riding waves, as huge as 70 feet. Casey tracks this exceptional group of people as the pursuit the largest waves.
In this amazing book, the author compares the two group of people; the surfers and the scientists and tries to under the motivation behind their pursuit. The two groups of people had a way of infusing their interests with the huge gigantic ocean waves. At the end of the day, the people achieve their respective objectives no matter the underlying factors.
The author of the book boards a 295-foot investigation vessel attempting to gather information on the huge waves on the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the oceans hit the discovery ship with numerous waves threatening to drown it. After week of experiencing the rough waves, the captain of the ship decided to hide behind island of Hebrides. The waves were as high as 100 feet. One of the most noticeable or undisputable scientific fact was the existence of monster waves on some sections of the ocean which prompted the author to continue the journey.
The challenges Casey faced during the voyage makes the book more interesting and relatable. The fear coupled with anxiety makes the reader glued to the book and eager to turn every page. Centered into two pathways, book dwells on the challenges experienced by the surfers as they as they try riding the waves and the scientist attempting to define an underlying reason responsible for the rise of the oceans.
According to the sentiments made in the book discuss, the highest waves a surfer can climb without any assistance is 400 feet. Surfers cannot swim then cannot mount a larger wave due to the fact that they not fast enough to reach and then climb it. Casey reaffirms that a larger wave moves at a faster pace; attempting to catch up with it is not simple and even swimming towards it on the stomach, known, as wind milling does not help in any way.
Huge waves actually occur but the key question is how? Peculiarly, in more ways than one, scientists understand subatomic science concepts better than the formation of behemoths. From a general point of view, waves are the unique prehistoric forces that shaped the surface of the earth. Anywhere moving energy exists, waves occur in that particular place and the phenomena takes place in all corners of the earth and this elaborates on the characteristics of waves. In fact, explaining waves has always been a fundamental subject matter in mathematics and physics. Nevertheless, ocean waves, produced in massive and chaotic surroundings and susceptible to several elements, are usually problematic to model or forecast.
Certainly, rogue waves are crafty beings that play with the principles of physics, rationality, and even gravity and as scholars realized, many people find the waves fascinating and dedicated their lives to studying their nature. Casey combines her commentary on surfers and scientists with a depiction of pull surfing, and specifically, her purveyor Hamilton. Utilizing Jet skis and water-skiing, individual assists another into position. Then the surfer can let go dive into the waves.
The book is not only about huge waves, it also covers issues regarding the oceans. The book leaves space for meteorologists and oceanographers who explore the ocean waves in all of its splendor. In the moment. Hamilton came up with surfing technic, which would enable the permit surfers ride huge waves. The technic known as tow surfing, the driver of the Jet Ski throws a surfer into an oncoming wave. Initially, one could not reach the waves via paddling but the thrust offered to the surfer catapults them higher than usual.
On Maui Island, the Pe’ahi is where Casey went to see Hamilton surfing huge waves and certain people in the book suggest that Hamilton is simply the best surfer of all time. The residents leaving in the area know that concurring huge waves is not an easy task and the surfers need to keep their best foot forward as one can die while in action. Exhibiting courage and skill is all the surfers need to climb to the top of the giant waves.
As stated earlier, the book has an interesting collection of pictures of waves, scientists, and the author herself. Naturally, one cannot tell the magnitude of the waves from the pictures alone and even at times, words do not do the book justice. Nevertheless, the author attempts to offer some of her thrilling experience as good way of revealing the beauty of the waves. When it comes to capturing the interests of an audience with no interest in oceans activities, the author does a spectacular job of ensuring the most vital and fascinating factors come first then the not so captivating details follow latter. For instance any one can develop an interest when the author incorporates images of the waves into the book.
The manner in which the author communicates the message exposes the seriousness of the subject matter and translates the work into a much more acceptable form of literature. Most of the times, authors ignore the perspectives of other people but not Casey. Casey incorporates varied perspectives into her body of work. She ensures the opinions fit into the main argument of the book and even if the opinions are very contrary to the popular facts she still tries to make sense of sentiments. The inclusivity of the research paints a vivid picture of the ocean and makes the book relatable for hence the need to review the book from all perspectives so that no one misses the crucial facts portrayed in the book.
From Hawaii to Tahiti, the author takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of North America and Baja. Wintertime hurricanes of Alaska generate massive waves on Hawaii’s north coastline. Moreover, under optimum conditions, they also generate giant waves on the coastline of California. Two key sites suitable for extreme formation of waves are the Ghost Tree and the Mavericks. The dangerous circumstances, cold water, rocky seashores, and countless white sharks at these places usually leads to injury and even may kill some people.
Apart from surfing, Casey interviews ship owners, captains, entrepreneurs and insurance firms trying to comprehend the huge waves and their effects on the lives of coastal residents. She takes a trip Lloyd, London, where people insure ships from imminent threatens from the year 1688 until presently. While in Lloyd, she took her time to interview Neil Roberts, a high-ranking expert dedicated to researching marine activities. He gave her several accounts of shipwrecks in contemporary history initiated via rogue waves with levels extending from 50 feet to an estimated 100 feet. From 1990 to 1997, investors lost an estimated 99 ships. In 1997 to 1998 winter, 27 ships submerged under water. Huge waves affect ships and the luxury cruise businesses. Casey describes the disturbing predicaments brought about by rogue waves for the current ships.
Ocean storm hurtling through the vast oceans usually generate waves fit for surfing. Waves such as tsunamis arise from geological tasks; earthquakes and volcanoes. Tsunamis are damaging as they cause rogue waves. To assist the reader comprehend tsunamis, and hurricanes, Casey tours London academic institution for the sake of gaining more knowledge and collecting information on the natural disasters. At London University, she meets Bill McGuire a geophysical professor. Casey converses with the man while they sip some beer. He explains to her all she needs to know about Tsunamis and hurricanes. For majority of the North Americans, tsunami is a phenomenon, which occurs only on islands, nevertheless, Casey points to the fact that the west coast experiences tsunamis more often than other places located on the coastline. The Native Americans have many traditional tales of the vanishings and destruction of villages perhaps due to rogue waves. In the 1700s, Russia and French voyagers recorded rogue waves widespread through the bay sections of the beach. In the year 1854, the base waves battered the hill edges of the vegetation. The recent ones occurred in 1958 and was 1740 feet and came at a speed of 100 each hour. Crescent city overlaps California border. A tsunami thumped it in the year 1964. Four waves smashed the town to its deathbed. An earthquake of a 9.2 magnitude from Alaska caused the waves. The forth wave delivered the final blow that wiped out the city then retreated to the land. The waves brought with them plastics, logs and other junk from the ocean.
Casey wrote on a vital subject matter. She maintains the attention of the reader, hitherto, she never waivers from the risks and supremacy linked to huge waves. She ensures the reader move from inaction action as she narrates the tales of the oceans, its ups and downs. She commences with a jump from a cliff into the oceans as she snorkels the ‘jaws’ on a calm day. She takes photos with surfers and engages other people who seem interested in her project. Furthermore, she makes her work interesting by surfing the huge waves and even participates in some of the activities she terms risky. This makes the book more appealing to the reader as she takes the reader through the voyage and incorporates pictures of most things that transpired during her trip in order for the reader to grasp the magnitude of the issues she is talking about or referring to.
The idea of depicting wave as both a positive and negative makes the reader introduce other analysis for the sake of finding clarity and seeking the perfect way of fitting their opinions into the Casey’s narrative. The author tends to drive the point home and make the reader more mindful of the culture and destructive waves. Even though waves are entertaining to watch, the book was not neutral and the attitude of the author portray the message loud and clear of stereotypes associated with coastlines from the start to the finish. Casey claims that young ideologies portrayed through scientists mold their thinking of the general public.
In terms of issues, myths and false information which sometimes seem to be the foundation of ocean waves. The authors indirectly utilized the relationships between falsehood and facts to replicate challenges experienced by the captains and other people who arch a living out of oceans. On the other hand, language the author gathers new firsthand information. For example, it is hard to tell the variations, which cause the massive waves, but Casey takes an extra step of investigating some of the manmade and natural issues related to the exploration.
In summary, the books stick to its main objective, which is investigating massive waves, their origin, and other oceanic factors. The author makes the book more receptive to various approaches and all people from various walks of life can read the book and deliver their own confusions based on already existing information and the material they read from the book. The book does not limit anyone’s perspective or surplus information. Surfers and scientists are the main people Casey worked and she documents their experiences.
