Hi, it’s Vanessa, your ENLIGHTENMENT host

Here’s the latest pick for my bimonthly book club of fiction/non-fiction focused on the Golden State.

Along with the book, I invite a special guest to each club meeting, someone who is an expert or very connected to the theme of the book and can answer our questions about the topic. So even if you haven’t finished / opened the book, you can still be part of the conversation.

I’m on a surfing kick these days. So alongside my Wanderlust Book Club pick Barbarian Days (which we’ll be discussing the same evening, at 6:30 pm), I’ve picked a book about California’s most famous (and dangerous) surf break - The Voodoo Wave: Inside a Season of Triumph and Tumult at Maverick’s.

Author and sports reporter Mark Kreidler goes inside the sport and business of big-wave surfing, covering the Maverick’s Surf Contest near Half Moon Bay.

Along with discussing the book, I’m inviting the author to come talk about it with us. Mark Kreidler lives in Davis, so he’s coming across the causeway to talk about how he got inspired to cover Maverick’s, the research he did, the people he met, and what to know about big-wave surfing.

Below is a summary of The Voodoo Wave. Join me and Mark at Capitol Books for a good chat about his great book.

Sign up here on the Eventbrite link and we’ll save you a seat..

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The Maverick’s surf point near Half Moon Bay, California, has long been one of the most dangerous places in the world to catch a ride. It is also the site of the Super Bowl of big-wave surfing: the Maverick’s Surf Contest. Mark Kreidler takes readers inside the waves, inside the lives of the competitors, and introduces them to Jeff Clark, the man who first dared to ride Maverick’s. Kreidler’s riveting account of the 2010 season captures the jaw-dropping performance of South Africa’s Chris Bertish as well as Clark’s clashes with the contest’s newly corporatized management. The Voodoo Wave is a thrilling account of a culture of high-risk, high-adrenaline athletes.