Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
Book by William Finnegan
16
MENTIONS
6
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 16 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life".
Sep 22, 2026
Amanda DobbinsHOST
He's wearing quite the sweater vest.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
And anyway, I clicked on it because he's visibly holding William Finnegan's Barbarian Days cover out for the entirety of the clip, but does not talk about Barbarian Days at any point.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
Instead, I mean, uh, picture perfect.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
He carries, he carries Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird with him wherever he goes, he claims.
Juliet LitmanHOST
so.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
So I only saw the one.
Amanda DobbinsHOST
Does he talk about Barbarian Days in another one?
Juliet LitmanHOST
Um, I have to tell you, I didn't go sound on for any.
Steve HawkGUEST
kind of exists now.
Steve HawkGUEST
But, you know, William Finnegan, who won the Pulitzer for Barbarian Days, he had to hide from people that he was a surfer.
Steve HawkGUEST
Yeah.
Tyler BrewerHOST
But that's like...
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
Right.
Jeff O'NealHOST
But in terms of the kind of books I want to exist in the world that I, you know, am trying to vouchsafe and for my own consumption, if anything, I still think that Barbarian Days by William Finnegan is not really subject to LLMs and podcasts.
Jeff O'NealHOST
You know?
Rebecca SchinskyHOST
Yeah, that's a book you wanna-
Liam MorganHOST
Yeah, I'm still in the book.
Liam MorganHOST
Barbarian Days.
Will FosterHOST
Barbarian Days, who put it so beautifully, which is fear is nothing to do with the size of waves, but everything to do with how they feel when you are either in them or looking at them.
Will FosterHOST
And I think that having a little bit of fear is, being really honest for me, a huge reason why I do go in.
Will FosterHOST
I love...
Will FosterHOST
Yeah, well, quite exactly.
Will FosterHOST
But it's that thing where, um, It's all relative, and that's why that book is so, so powerful.
Will FosterHOST
And I recommend anyone remotely interested in surfing read that book, Barbarian Days.
Sebastian LangdaleHOST
Right.
Sebastian LangdaleHOST
Do you know that book Barbarian Days by Bill Finnegan?
Brent ForresterGUEST
Yes.
Brent ForresterGUEST
Did you read that?
Sebastian LangdaleHOST
Like a place that really sticks out in your mind as, as the best?
Brent ForresterGUEST
For sure.
Brent ForresterGUEST
You know, I had one of those Barbarian Days experiences 25 years ago.
Brent ForresterGUEST
A buddy and I who I'd grown up surfing with him as a kid, and we knew that people were surfing Costa Rica, and that there were great waves there, but it was crowded, and nobody was surfing Nicaragua, because-
YuvalHOST
What were her top book recommendations?
AmitHOST
She highly recommended Barbarian Days by William Finnegan.
AmitHOST
It's about a New Yorker reporter who falls in love with surfing.
AmitHOST
She took away the lesson that you can be deeply passionate about something and strive for excellence without ever reaching perfection.