ALL
FOR A FEW
PERFECT WAVES
"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)
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.
......
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. *
--Los Angeles Times, by 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
FOR A FEW
PERFECT WAVES
"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)
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.
......
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. *
--Los Angeles Times, by 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
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| 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 i ntelligence, 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 |
TWITTERATURE by Emmett Rensin & Alexander Aciman Amazon/US Amazon/UK Amazon/France Amazon/Germany Italy soon ... What if the lead characters of the world's greatest literature had Twitter accounts, and a sense of humor? www.twitterature.us |
| CLICK ON A COVER TO SEE THE AMAZON PAGE |
'My most recent collaboration. . . THE MEN ON MY COUCH True Stories of Sex, Love, and Psychotherapy Dr. Brandy Engler with David Rensin The memoir of Dr Engler's first year in practice. She planned to treat mostly women, but only got calls from men. Given her own fraught love affair at the time, Dr Engler and her patients end up searching together for what it means to love. You've never read a book like this before. |
DEPARTMENT OF MY SON, EMMETT:
AUTHOR, HUMORIST, COLUMNIST,
PLAYWRIGHT, DRAMATURG....
AUTHOR, HUMORIST, COLUMNIST,
PLAYWRIGHT, DRAMATURG....
| IN TRIBUTE |
| Coming in August 2013 HOPE CONQUERS ALL Inspiring Stories of Love and Healing from CaringBridge by Sona Mehring (I did all the interviews and I loved collaborating on this fascinating book) |
| READ EMMETT RENSIN'S WORK ON THE HUFF PO AND LA REVIEW OF BOOKS |
| Dream (book) come true. |
| WHAT'S NEW |
| WORKING! (on a hot new book proposal) |
