pods for primates : a catalogue of surfboards in australia since 1900
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2003 
Falzon, Albert :
Morning of the Earth
Woolloomooloo Picture Co. in association with
Emap Australia Pty. Ltd., Level 6 187 Thomas St. Haymarket NSW 2000. 
Soft cover, 211 pages, extensive black and white and colour photographs.
REVIEW
Photographs and lyrics from Albert Falzon's 1972 film of the same name, supplemented by comments by Albert Falzon's and some of the film's surfers. There are also a number of photographs that that are not featured in the film, mostly included in First Things First - a scrapbook collection, pages 182 to 203.
Unfortunately there is little design detail about the featured boards, some of which are significant, and the last segments of the film (Pipeline and Sunset Beach) are restricted to two pages.
1965 
Farrelly, Midget. As told to McGregor, Craig : 
This Surfing Life
Rigby Limited, James Place, Adelaide 
Hard cover, 138 pages, 68 black & white photographs, 8 b/w illustrations, Glossary. 
REVIEW
Excellent overview of all aspects of surfing in Australia up to 1965. Excellent photographs and illustrations (by Gary Birdsall). 
Now a significant historical record. 
The USA edition of 1967 is in a different format, with a change to the title :
(This)/The Surfing Life.
Also UK edition, 1968, with another change to the title (How to Surf) and printed in a small format with a soft cover.
1967 
Farrelly, Midget. As told to McGregor, Craig : 
The Surfing Life
Arco Publishing Company, Inc.
219 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10003
Hard cover, 192 pages, 68 black & white photographs, 8 b/w illustrations, Glossary. 
REVIEW
Excellent overview of all aspects of surfing in Australia up to 1965. Excellent photographs and illustrations (by Gary Birdsall). 
Now a significant historical record. 
USA edition, 1967 in a different format, with a change to the title :
(This)/The Surfing Life.
Also UK edition, 1968, with another change in title (How to Surf) and in a small format with a soft cover.
1968 
Farrelly, Midget. As told to McGregor, Craig :
How to Surf 
Sphere Books Limited, London, UK.
Soft cover, 144 pages, 36 black and white photographs/plates, 8 black and white illustrations, Glossary.
REVIEW
Sightly revised edition of 1965 publication above. 
There is some minor variation in the text (World Title results 1966 and 1968 included), but half the photographs have been dropped. 
The only other updating appears to be the illustraion of fin templates, page 71. Some of the photographs are different, but none from 1966-68.
1966 
Finney, Ben and Houston, James D. : 
Surfing – The Sport of Hawaiian Kings
Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc.
Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan.
Second printing 196x, Third printing 1971
Hard cover, 110 pages, 26 b/w photographs, 13 b/w illustrations, 
Appendices, Notes, Bibliography. 
REVIEW
Originally developed by Ben Finney as his master’s thesis in anthropology at the University of Hawai’i and revised by James D Houston this book is a wonderfully detailed work, it’s text, photographs and illustrations have been reproduced in a multitude of subsequent publications.
A large number of the photographs, many by Ron Church, are not reproduced in the 1996 edition.
Special Note: Illustration #23 : Crowded Waikiki page 82 - over 50 solid, lamimated or hollow timber boards at Waikiki, circa 1940. Not reproduced in the 1996 edition.
1996 
Finney, Ben and Houston, James D. : 
Surfing – A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport
Pomegranate Books 
P.O. Box 6099 Rohnert Park, CA 94927 
Soft cover, 117 pages, 20 b/w photographs, 24 b/w illustrations, 
Appendices, Notes, Bibliography. 
REVIEW
*The text from the 1966 edition is reprinted with a revised selection of images. The original maps and diagrams are significantly improved and most of the comtemporary photographs have been replaced with earlier material. 
Apart from the value of the original text...
Appendix B (Lt. James King 1778), 
Appendix C (William Ellis 1831), 
Appendix D (Mark Twain 1872) and 
Appendix E (Jack London 1907) are essential historical resources. 
Design special interest :
‘Ancient Hawaiian boards in the Bishop Museum’ (Figure 5 page 43) , ‘Surfboards 1907 – 1959’ (Figure 6 page 66) 
‘Thomas Edward Blake and his quiver, 1935’ (page68) - probably the most widely reprinted quiver photograph. 

 
1999
Flannery, Tim (Editor) :
The Birth of Sydney
The Text Publishing Company
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 1999
Grove Press 
841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. 2000.
Soft cover, 349 pages, 15 maps and illustrations, Introduction 
Selected primary sources with explanary notes.
Notes on Sources (Biographical).
Notes on Illustrations.
REVIEW
An excellent contribution to Australian history.
A relevant entry to this page may be 
1998 
Foster, Nigel :
Nigel Foster's Surf Kayaking
The Globe Pequot Press, P.O. Box 833 Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Soft cover, 101 pages, 94 colour photographs / sequences, Glossary, Index.
Review
Extensive/intensive How-to manual for a surfcraft particually suited for cold water surfing, largely ignored by the mainstream surfing media. 
Details on surf-skis (pages 5 - 6). 
Some locations (un-named) feature quality waves.
1989 
Franki, George :
The Balmoral Beach Club - 75 Years
The 
Review
1980
Freeman, Tony :
Beginning Surfing
Childrens Press, Chicago.
Hard cover, 46 pages, 44 colour photographs / sequences.
REVIEW
A very basic beginners book with no significant highlights. Design photographs features Infinity flyer rounded pin tail twin fin with atypical finboxes. Surfing photographs are a consistent low quality despite the author/photographer being a teacher of photography for eight years.
1953 
Funnell, Ronald S.
The Art of Surf-Riding on the Cornish Coast
A. Wheaton and Co. Ltd 
Soft cover, 36 pages, 9 black and white photographs.
REVIEW
Instructional pamplet-like publication that extolls the virtues and dangers of surf-riding - in this case prone riding on narrow solid wood boards as illustrated by the cover.
See Paipo Catalogue. 
Includes several advertisments for Newquay businesses and for "The New SOLARBO BALSA BOARDS" - see Source Documents Menu.
The author also wrote The Art of Surf-riding, 1934 - no other details available.
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surfresearch.com.au
Note
This is not a complete list of surfing books, only books read and reviewed  for this site are listed.
For more comprehensive lists go to...
The Surfing Bibliography - Surfing Books
- Steven  Whelan's (England) comprehensive list of books, film, video and magazines, listed alphabetically.
and/or
The Water Log Surfing Bibliography
- excellent listing of books and journals  by Daved Marsh (USA), listed by category.
home catalogue history references appendix