surfresearch.com.au    references : books k

1968  Kahanamoku, Duke With Brennan, Joe:  Duke Kahanamoku’s World of Surfing Angus and Robertson Publishers Sydney , Australia  1968 1972   2nd Edition  A&R Paperbacks, Sydney , Australia   Soft cover, 167 pages, 38 b/w photographs, 14 b/w illustrations, glossary, index  Review Competent account of early surfing that becomes more lightweight as it moves into the sixties.  Early photographs are interesting but illustrations and some text are lifted from Kelly: Surf and Sea (1965). His first visit to Australia is reported on pages 35 –36 and there is no mention of his return for the Olympics in 1956.  The exhibition at Freshwater is merely noted as 1915.

1962 Kaler, W.F. (compiler): St Clair Surf Life Saving Club's Souvenir : 50th Anniversary 1911 - 1961 Otago Daily Times, circa 1962. Soft cover, 64 pages, black and white photographs. Review

1997 Kampion, Drew. Forward by Bruce Brown  Stoked : A History of Surf Culture General Publishing Group Los Angles 1997 1998 Second edition  Benedikt Tashen Verlag GmbH, Hohenzollernring 53, D-50672 Koin. 1998 Hardcover, 216 pages, 274 black and white/colour illustrations and photographs, Bibliography, Photo Credits, Index. Review This is an excellent book.  The text covers a huge amount of information, yet Drew Kampion's  seamless style makes for highly enjoyable reading.  The selection of illustrations and photographs is excellent, many not previously published.  As an historical resource, it is a wonderful companion work to Nat Young's The History of Surfing.  Only a pedant would quibble with the quality of this work. Errata/Omissions/Quibbles: 1.Photograph, Page 67 'Aussie surf cars of the late'50's, owned by cineatographer Bob Evans and friends' - actually 'John Arnold and his mates in South Australia', Nat Young The History of Surfing, page 91. 2.Photograph, page 106 'Bob McTavish at Long Reef in 1967' - sorry, headland does not look like Long Reef. 3. 'The Shortboard Revolution', pages 107 -108. - fails to mention the significant imput by Midget Farrelly 4. Photograph, page124 'North Shore stretch' -the surfer is Tom Carroll 5. Photograph, page 147 'Surf signage in Engand shows significant cultural penetration.' - actually Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. 6. 'Simon Anderson and the Three-Fin Thruster' - No mention of the Mark Richards' Twin fin, the design that Simon Anderson was influenced by and supplanted. 7.'Nat Young and the Involvement School', page 107 - quotes re:'..two trains..' attributed to Bob McTavish, elsewhere attributed to Bob Cooper - can't find reference.

2003 Kampion, Drew. Forward by Bruce Brown The Way of the Surfer - Living it 1935 to tomorrow  Harry N. Abrahams, Inc., Publishers   100 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 1001185  2003   Hard cover, 192 pages, extensive colour/black and white photographs,  Index, Photography Credits, Acknowledgements.  Review A selection of surfer profiles from Woody Brown (hence the 1935 of the title) to Kelly Slater.   Despite much of the text being drawn from previously published work, there are several photographs that are possibly unique,   A close readng of Dick Brewer and Gerry Lopez's alternate accounts of  surfboard design circa 1967 to 1972 is very interesting.   Drew manages to get his other fetish, Bob Dylan, into the book, twice. Similar format to...   Matt Warshaw's : Above The Roar - Fifty Surfer Interviews 1997 Similar title to... Tom Adler : Surf Life 32 to 03

2007 Kampion, Drew: Greg Noll - The Art of the Surfboard Gibbs Smith Publisher PO Box 667 Layton, Utah 84041, 2007.  Hard cover, 176 pages, extensive colour/black and white photographs, Acknowledgements, Glossary.  Review

1965 Kelly, John  M:  Surf and Sea A.S. Barnes and Co.Inc., 8 East  36 Street New York  16, New York 1965 Hard cover, 304 pages, 58 b/w photographs, 22 b/w illustrations, glossary. bibliography, index  Review Extremely intelligent and detailed account of surfing and the ocean from a US/Hawaiian viewpoint. Companion volume to Farrelly, 1965.  Many photographs and diagrams have been reproduced in subsequent works.  Extensive disscussion of board and fin design with diagrams, Chapter 7, and 'Body, Mat  and Belly Board Surfing', Chapter 4.  Historical artifact.

2001 Kettle, Phil and Smith, Craig (illustrator):  Too Cool- Surtfing Pro. Scholastic Education 345 Pacific Highway Lindfield NSW 2070, 2001. Soft cover, 43 pages, b/w illustrations, Quiz. Review Juvenile book, one of a series with a sporting focus, featuring the highly imaginative surfing exploits of Too Cool and his friend, Spike.

1975  Kinstle, James : Surfboard Design and Construction Natural High Express Co. Long Beach, California.1975 Soft cover, 139 pages, extensive black and white illustrations and diagrams. Image  This is not an original, but a photocopied version contributed  by A. -thanks to A. Review 1. Probably the most technically detailed work on surfboard design ever published, many sections are unique. It would be unfair to attempt a critical review at this point since I don't feel that I fully understand much of the work, in particular Chapter 2 Surfboard Dynamics.

Kit Horn, Bob Simmons and Buzzy Trent.
Solid Laminates, Malibu, circa 1941 - 1944.
Surfer Magazine
March 1981 Volume 22, Number 3, page 36
The photograph is uncredited.

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1968  Kirk, Cameron and Hanle, Zack : The Surfer's Handbook Publisher? 1968 Soft cover, 157 pages, 16 black and white photographs, 55 black and white illustrations, Glossary, Index. Illustrations by Donald Hendricks. Review Mostly an instructional book (with the accompanying illustrations) with an apparent U.S. East Coast slant. Some mentions of Australia and Peru. Like other books of this era, publishing lag time meant it hit the shelves with photographs of longboards, when the Short board revolution (1969-1970) was in full swing.

1965  Klein, H. Arthur.  Surfing J.B.Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York 1965 Third printing Hard cover, 283 pages, 75 black and white photographs, 42 black and white illustrations, Index.  Review Well written, standard surfing text with extensive detail in some sections. The early history section establishes the important relationship between weight and floatation in relation to solid/laminated/hollow/balsa and foam boards. Sections R, S and T include detailed illustrations of various riding techniques and plans for a surfing simulator - pages 166 - 167.  Other craft include mats - M, prone boards - N (very interesting), body surfing - O, skis, boats, dories, hasake, canoes - V, and wake surfing - W. A suprising number of photographs are sourced from Australia, particularly surf boats and skis, and several (and some illustrations) are reproduced from Pollard : The Surfrider (1964).  The Australian board riding photographs include a rare Midget Farrelly at Dee Why, page 186.  The excellent photographs of Dr Don James are used throughout the book (including the cover), many have been widely reproduced.

1967  Klein, H. Arthur.  Surfing J.B.Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1967. Third printing Hard cover, 283 pages, 75 black and white photographs, 42 black and white illustrations, Index.  Review Well written, standard surfing text with extensive detail in some sections. The early history section establishes the important relationship between weight and floatation in relation to solid/laminated/hollow/balsa and foam boards.Sections R, S and T include detailed illustrations of various riding techniques and plans for a surfing simulator - pages 166 - 167. Other craft include mats - M, prone boards - N (very interesting), body surfing - O, skis, boats, dories, hasake, canoes - V, and wake surfing - W. A suprising number of photographs are sourced from Australia, particularly surf boats and skis, and several (and some illustrations) are reproduced from Pollard : The Surfrider, 1964. The Australian board riding photographs include a rare Midget Farrelly at Dee Why, page 186. The excellent photographs of Dr Don James are used throughout the book (including the cover), many have been widely reproduced.

1966  Klein, H. Arthur and Klein, M.C.: Surf's Up! - An Anthology of Surfing. The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc,  A Subsidiary of Howard W. Sams  & Co. Inc. Publishers Indianapolis, Kanas City, New York, 1966. Third printing Hard cover, 223 pages, 75 black and white photographs, 39 pages of black and white illustrations. Review Probably the first, if slightly uneven,  anthology of surfriding writing, photographs and illustrations - the later including a large number by Rick Griffin. Several accounts are now considered "stock"- Mark Twain, Jack London, Isabella Bird and Fredrick Kohner. The excellent photographs of Tom Blake, Doc Ball and Dr Don James are used throughout the book, many which have been widely reproduced. The book has some excellent or important photographs not widely reproduced; see pages 67, 80, 109, and 119.

1972  Klein, H. Arthur. Photographs by Donald H. James  Surf-Riding J.B.Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York 1972 Hard cover, 30 pages(unpaginated), 30 colour photographs  Review Basic scholastic text.  Photographs range from early 1960's to early 1970's and craft include Paipo, outrigger canoe, rubber mat/raft, bellyboard, hollow wood, tandem boards, foam Malibus and 1970 short boards. Some of the water photography is excellent for the period.  There are no credits for surfer/location and there are no page numbers.

2006  Knight, Ken  How We Got From There To Here -  A History of Surf Life Saving in Tasmania. Surf Life Saving Tasmania Inc. 10 B Lampton Avenue, Derwent Park GPO Box 1745 Hobart, Tasmania, 7001. Printed by Harris Print Pty Ltd 39 Alexander Street  Burnie Tasmania 7320. Soft cover,  Review

1992  Knox, David :  Mark Richards : A Surfing Legend Collins Angus & Robertson Publishers Pty. Ltd. 25 – 31 Ryde Road. Pymble NSW 2073 Australia 1992 Hard cover, 178 pages, 25 colour plates, 41 b/w photographs, chronology, index.  Review A straightforward biography about a straightforward surfer, (and I mean straight!) contrast with Noll, Hakman and the contemporary Rabbit.  Early photographs are very interesting – surf-o-plane, V-bottoms and hanging five.  Colour plates have previously appeared in a plethora of publications. Unfortunately absent are 1970’s quiver photographs (Reno pins, Apia stings and MR twins) and the classic drop in on Shaun Thomson at Off-the-Wall circa 1976.

1889 Knox, Thomas W. (1835-1896) : The Boy Travellers in Australasia Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Sociey, Samoan and Feejee Islands and Through the Colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. New York Harper & Brothers 1889. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1902. Charles Tuttle Co, Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan. reprinted1971. Paul Flesch & Company, Melbourne.1971  Hard cover, 538 pages, one leaf of coloured plates, extensive black and white illustrations and maps. Review One of a series of juvenile world-wide travel books, with a large section on Hawaii. Originally published in 1888, for the Australian centenary celebrations. Includes a description of several surf board riders at Hilo who perform for payment, pages 31 - 32. - perhaps the first record of  professional surfers? For extract see Surfing at Hilo. Accompanied by a woodblock Surfing at Hilo, see Dela Vega, page 24... First printed in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, August - September , 1873, pages 382 - 402? Attributed to Commander William Bainbridge Hoff of the flagship California, it accompanied a two part article "Hawaii nei" by Chales Nordhoff. The article and woodblock (without credit) were subesquently reprinted in  Nordhoff, Charles :  Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands Harpers & Brothers, N.Y. 1874.

1983  Kuhn, Charlie: Coffs Harbour Surf Life Saving Club - The First 60 Years, 1923-1983. Coffs Harbour Surf Life Saving Club, NSW, 1983 Soft cover, 74 pages, black and white photographs and illustrations, Membership and Executive Lists. Review . Extracts, see: Coffs Harbour SLSC History.

1963  Kuhns, Grant : On Surfing Charles E. Tuttle Company Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan 1962 Hard cover, 119 pages, 14 black and white photographs, 16 black and white illustrations, 6 black and white maps, Glossary. Review Early book with  emphasis on surf skills.  Photographs are basic and do not credit the surfers.

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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
- an excellent listing of books and journals  by Daved Marsh (USA), listed by category.

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"GIDGET.
I wrote a little bit about this in K too, in support of my theory that in the area of fictional and/or literary endeavour, surfing usually only gives rise to cheese.
This is great cheese, appalling, epic cheese, and has undoubtedly represented the surfing milieu to a greater number of (oh dear) "Baby Boomers" than any other surfing related cultural expression, including "Endless Summer".
"Gidget" is massively and rightly ignored on the score of influence within the surfing hard core, but so what?
"Breath" is probably the best piece of fiction anyone will ever write about surfing, but it'll never overtake "Gidget" in the public recognition stakes."

in K too: Nick was responding to the question-
In your interview with Kurungabaa (July 30 2008) you noted:
“I can’t say I’ve read a great book about surfing yet.
There’s been some OK ones, but the potentially great ones keep falling short.”

Could you comment on the best or most influential surfing books, perhaps subdivided by non-fiction, autobiography/biography, and fiction?