“Surfing Europe” ($34.95, Footprint Books) suggests that everybody’s going surfing, all right, and it’s not just USA. The book packs a staggering amount of information into its pages and appears to be thoroughly researched, as well as nicely interspersed with glossy, color photographs. No wave charts, inexplicably, but just about everything else you need to know to make informed decisions about the major breaks you might want to check out in Britain, Ireland, Spain and France. The book is odd in that it is laced with full-page, loosely disguised info-advertisements for gear and tour companies, which I hope isn’t the next big wave in publishing, but there’s so much other good stuff here — including detailed maps and ideas for what to do if the surf is bad — that it’s easy to overlook the weird sales pitches.
Kyle Wagner
