MIKI DORA BOOK/VIEWS & REVIEWS

"A far-reaching oral history."
-- New York
Times

“Until now enigmatic surfer legend
Miki Dora’s history was written only
in water, but David Rensin’s primo
All for a Few Perfect Waves catches
the life of this charismatic renegade.”
-- Vanity Fair

"This great book is (Dora's) iconoclastic
epitaph." -- Times (London)

LOS ANGELES TIMES
BOOK REVIEW
Sunday June 22, 2008

Rensin's book is mostly excellent --
and I say "mostly" because Dora's life
serves as both aspirational legend and
cautionary tale. For many fans, the
facts are unimportant, almost
unhelpful. But the fiction? Well, Da
Cat stories have a near-mystical
currency. "All for a Few Perfect
Waves" sacrifices that appeal,
swapping fiction with fact,
mythology with man. In short, it
supplants a fairy tale for surfers with
a kick-butt biography for everyone
else.
......
Because Dora, who died from
pancreatic cancer in 2002, is a near-
impossible figure to capture, Rensin's
true insight was not to try. "All for a
Few Perfect Waves" is an oral
biography, told almost entirely in
quotes culled from the more than 300
people he interviewed for the book.
Between the quotes are Rensin's
incredibly long sentences, which
might be trying in other contexts, but
here, serving as both scene setting
and transition, are justified.
......
The results are not just the most
complete portrait of Dora ever
painted but also a solid recounting of
surfing's original boom years and a
thin, peculiar slice of Americana in
the late 1950s and early '60s -- a staid
time that was ripe for so mercenary
an iconoclast as Dora.
......
"All for a Few Perfect Waves" is much
more than just another day at the
beach. *

--Steven Kotler, author of
"West of
Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the
Origins of Belief














“Engrossing… Rensin proves an
inexhaustible interviewer, teasing out
colorful tales never before set in
print.” ­- Men's Vogue

“In this vivid biography, Rensin takes
on a daunting task: to clarify the
clouded myth of legendary surfer Miki
Dora ... Rensin lets Dora’s friends,
lovers and rivals tell the story. The
result brings a remarkable focus to a
man whose greatest accomplishments
were written on water.” ­- Publishers
Weekly

Thanks to these stores and venues for
inviting me to appear, and then
disappear... just like a wave

BOOK SOUP (on the Sunset Strip)
(ALWAYS GREAT)

LAGUNA BEACH BOOKS
(PACKED!)

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SANTA MONICA PUBLIC LIBRARY
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(FANTASTIC EVENT!)

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(PACKED!)

BARNES & NOBLE
Woodland Hills

CHAUCER'S BOOKS (S.Barbara)
(NICE CROWD & KEMP)

WARWICK'S BOOK STORE (La Jolla)
(LOTS OF PEOPLE!)

HOLLYWOOD BOOK FESTIVAL

BESTSELLERS BOOKS
Honolulu, HI

SACRED CRAFT
CONSUMER SURFBOARD EXPO
(Scott Bass and Sam George)

AT THE BRIDGE GALLERY
(Suzanne McNeill)
ALL FOR A FEW PERFECT WAVES ...
M E D I A
Reviews, excerpts, features/interviews,mentions,
damnation,and praise.

THE DAILY HABIT on FUEL TV

LONG BEACH DISTRICT (7/26)
ABOUT.COM REVIEW (7/17)
SUNSET TRAVELER ONLINE (7/21 & 7/28)
LOS ANGELES TIMES SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW 6/22
Florida Times-Union (7/13)
Guardian/UK Book Blog (6/20)
Santa Barbara Independent 6/19 (Critics Pick)
THE NEW YORKER -- BOOK BENCH 5/28
LA CityBeat 5/28
Associated Press: Multiple Outlets (6/4)
Times Online (London)
The Independent/UK
New York Times 4/17
Publishers Weekly (2/11--scroll down)
Surfer Magazine (April 2008)
The Surfers Journal (6/2008)
The Surfers Path (May)
Men's Vogue (4/2008)
Eastern Surf Magazine (4/2008)
Los Angeles Magazine (4/2008)
Vanity Fair, Hot Type Column, April 2008
Outside Magazine, book review
Orange County Register, Corky Carroll's "Surf's Up"
Amazon.com Hack
Surfwriter.net review(2/19)
Moli.com/Sports&Fitness (2/28)
Playboy (5/2008)
The Observer (UK)
The Wall Street Journal Online
AMAZON.COM ...EXCLUSIVE Q&A
TUBESTEAK'S VBLOG!
Metro.co.uk (my only bad review!)
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Fox Sports.com Online
LONGBOARD MAGAZINE
The Post.IE (Ireland)
WATER MAGAZINE (click Table of Contents, then Reviews)
Santa Barbara Surfing.com 6/18
SCRAM Magazine: The Journal of Unpopular Culture
The Week / July 4-11
The Globe and Mail.com (Canada)
WOW! AMAZON.COM CHOSE
ALL FOR A FEW
PERFECT WAVES
AS ONE OF ITS SIGNIFICANT
SEVEN/BEST BOOKS OF
APRIL 2008! CLICK LOGO <<-
TO LEARN MORE.
BESTSELLER LISTS

LOS ANGELES TIMES/4wks

SO CALIF INDPT BOOKSELLERS/6wks
DID YOU READ THE BOOK?
Did you like it? If so, PLEASE
RECOMMEND IT. Books today only
succeed through word of mouth!
Also, please post a
REVIEW or
comment online at
AMAZON.COM
or
BN.COM  -- or wherever.
!! PERFECT WAVES HAS HAD A
SECOND PRINTING ... THANK YOU.
THE NEW PRINT RUN HAS ERRORS
AND OMISSIONS FIXED !!
STUDS TERKEL DIES AT 96
From the NY Times 11/1/2008
The elfin, amiable Mr. Terkel was
a gifted and seemingly
tireless interviewer who elicited
provocative insights and colorful,
detailed personal histories from
a broad mix of people. "The thing I'm able to do, I guess, is
break down walls," he once told an interviewer. "If they think
you're listening, they'll talk. It's more of a conversation than
an interview."
Mr. Terkel succeeded as an interviewer in part because
he believed most people had something to say worth hearing.
"The average American has an indigenous intelligence, a
native wit," he said. "It's only a question of piquing that
intelligence."
“It isn’t an inquisition; it’s an exploration, usually an
exploration into the past,” he once said, explaining his
approach. “So I think the gentlest question is the best one,
and the gentlest is, ‘And what happened then?’ ”
--------------------------
"May Studs rest in peace and oral history remain alive."
               -- Brett Farmiloe, Purse the Passion
Get it for your Kindle!
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Dept of My Son, the author
TWITTERATURE
by
Emmett Rensin &
Alexander Aciman

Amazon/US and Amazon/UK

What if characters from the world's greatest
literature had Twitter accounts,
and a sense of humor?

www.twitterature.us
The softcover
The hardcover
MORE REVIEWS

"Rensin has crafted a colorful history that celebrates Dora’s lifelong commitment to personal freedom and makes you care
about this individual who, it seems, could not have cared less." -- Ethan Stewart, Santa Barbara Independent

David Rensin talked to over 300 of Dora's family, friends and enemies, and such is his skill in weaving the strands together
that any suspicion the subject matter might be too inconsequential to justify 475 close-packed pages is soon rejected in
favour of a desire to know what happened next. And just when you feel you have half-understood this complex character, a
final twist reveals how little you do know him. In Rensin's own words, Dora's story is "all about surfing, and not about surfing
at all". -- The Independent/UK


“Unsparing and comprehensive,
All For a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora pulls
no punches in drawing a compelling portrait of Da Cat, warts and all, but leaves the final judgment
to the reader..The book is remarkable in that it allows those around (the late) Dora to fill in the gaps of his life and eschews
the demigod hero treatment that mars so much representation of Da Cat. What remains is Dora laid bare -- a portrait that’s
breathtaking in its scope.”  ­- Surfer magazine


“Above and beyond the call of unearthing the mystery that was Dora…a stunningly comprehensive tome… [an] incomparable
body of work which will mess with both your mind and heart, the likes of which may forever set the literary sandbar, and
rightfully so.” ­-Eastern Surf Magazine


"Scam artist, self-worshipping jerk and the most important figure in surf culture, Miki Dora taught us that surf stars, and
crowds, and contests, and surf camps, and surf schools, and everything commercial about surfing is WRONG!!!! Unless, of
course, you need to make money so you can surf, in which case it is okay; as long as you pontificate that to all who will
listen that it isn't. A fabulous, insightful read!" --Scott Bass, Senior Online  Editor, SURFER Magazine


David Rensin provides a rare look at the famously guarded Dora through hundreds of interviews with those who knew him
best. The result is a portrait of a life wedged between hyperbole and vulnerability. -- Amazon.com


“David Rensin doesn’t shy from documenting Dora’s multitude of sins - the stealing and swindling, the juvenile pranks, the
prison terms - even as he celebrates the man’s desire to live a life of utter, and often utterly irresponsible, freedom.”
­- Los Angeles Magazine

Book of the week by a mile is David Rensin's excellent biog of Miki 'Da Cat' Dora - All For A Few Perfect Waves.
-- The Guardian/Observer, UK