Review, Barbarian Days,A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan

I must confess, I was a third of the way through The Gene, Siddharta Mukerjee, when Barbarian Days came in the mail from amazon, which is where all my books come from these days.  I needed a break from the science, though I love science and read about it a good deal.  Anyhow, it is summer and I wanted a lift, a little mental vacation.  Any of you out there who saw the film Endless Summer, from back in the 60s will understand.  I got much more than a mountainous swell of detail on waves.  I got a fellow travelers experience of living, aging, and finding your way out from under the crushing waves of sorrow that go with living, such as the loss of parents, the diminishment of our own powers through the undertow of time.  Finnegan couldn't pop up from a crouch to upright on his board like he used to, I couldn't do yoga anymore on my inherited bad knees.                                                                                  Anyhow, I wondered how old the oldest continuing surfers were and it turns out there is a woman surfer age 73, Eve Fletcher, and a man, Woody Brown, aged 93.  A man at my gym just died age 94.  He hadn't been for a week or two and someone asked.  I hope I can go till I am 93.  The gym gives me strength and hope. Fi