Surfing with Sartre: An Aquatic Inquiry into a Life of Meaning,Used

ReviewErudite yet engaging . . . strikes a winning balance between waxing wise and catching waves. NPRA marvelous analysis. The New York Times Book Review[James] is a bellclear writer . . . and, here, takes home the gold. San Francisco ChronicleIlluminating. . . . A clear and wellinformed guide. The PhilosopherA beautiful book, essentially a dialogue with JeanPaul Sartre about work and play. Hes arguing that working less and playing more, especially in the surf, is not only an okay choice but a moral one. Jaimal Yogis, Tampa Bay TimesIncredibly intelligent and compelling. . . . Provocative and pure. . . . Render[s] complicated ideas easily comprehensible by way of a context of surfing attitude. The Maine EdgeThoughtful and lifeaffirming. . . . Funny, enthralling and above all wise, Surfing with Sartre offers fresh insights into the human condition that will interest the academic theorist, the casual surfer and everyone in between. Shelf AwarenessCarefully and conscientiously crafted and deeply thoughtful. . . . Addresses major questions in philosophy from his unique perspective as both a philosopher and former surfer. Reason and MeaningProvocative. . . . Entertaining. . . . [A] nimble set of essays on topics such as work and freedom. Kirkus Reviews[A] thoughtful meditation on surfing and philosophy. . . . Even for nonsurfers, James convincingly illustrates the ways in which catching a wave can change how people understand the world and try to make meaning from experiences. Publishers WeeklyIntellectually bracing. . . . Philosophy stoked with the adrenaline rush of riding one gnarly wave. Booklist[James] knows how to make us think deeply in a fun way. . . . The idea of having a University of California, Irvine, philosophy professor explain key concepts like freedom, being, and epistemology from a surfer's perspective is way too cool. Library JournalProduct DescriptionJeanPaul Sartre once declared waterskiing to be the ideal limit of aquatic sports. Aaron James, who is both an avid surfer and a professor of philosophy, vigorously disagrees. In these pages, he presents his surfers worldview as a foil to Sartres, along the way elucidating such philosophical categories as freedom, being, phenomenology, morality, epistemology, and even the emerging values of what he terms leisure capitalism.In developing his unique surfers philosophy, he draws from surf culture and lingoand engages with philosophers from Aristotle to Wittgenstein. In the process, he speaks to those of us in search of personal and social meaningparticularly in our current anxious momentby way of real, authentic philosophy. In or out of the water.About the AuthorAaron James holds a PhD from Harvard and is professor of philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Assholes: A Theory, Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump, and Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy and numerous academic articles. He was awarded a Burkhardt Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, and spent the 200910 academic year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Hes a skilled, lifelong surfer and lives in Irvine, California.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.1What the Surfer KnowsA person who has a good nose for arguments or jokes may have a bad head for facts.Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of MindA wave rises from the deep, and a surfer surfs it, being carried along by the waves natural momentum.When an ocean swell is mounting over shallowing sand or reef, its wave face will steepen and crest and then plunge into the wave trough. If the wave is any good for surfing, a sloping shoulder will pull up into the cresting curl, and a moving wave face will run along the beach, tracking the contours of sand or rock below. Assuming one is up and riding (no easy feat, and Ill come