Fellas (and surfiechick
)
Just finished this book and I really enjoyed it. It was an extremely interesting insight into the both the Carrolls. Worts and all! Unreal what they have been through - some of the stuff is fantastic reading whilst other bits are very confronting. Its so well written that at times you feel like you are there.....I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a vague interest in the happenings of TC, the pro tour, Quiksilver, legends of the surf environment, has an addiction problem or just enjoys reading honest books with nothing left out. I could hardly put it down once I got into it. Its fair to say that it was no surprise to learn of what happened to AI - what strikes me is that there have not been a lot more of these. I am also surprised that TC has not killed himself in a car accident yet.
I have always thought that the so-called recreational drugs - speed, weed, cocaine, acid, meth etc were definitely not performance enhancing drugs at all.....but after reading this book its fair to say that I have completely changed my viewpoint on this. I can not believe some of the stuff that was going on - like huge days of 15ft plus and they are dropping acid before paddling out ! Jeepers - what were they thinking? Anyway its a bloody good read and well worth putting on yr christmas present list.
The long-awaited autobiography of one of Australia's surfing legends.
On the surface he was Tom Carroll, dreamer, cheeky grommet, brilliant surfer, Australian sporting hero, fitness fanatic, businessman, family man, big wave charger. Inside turned the terrible wheel of drug addiction, part family curse, part legacy of the footloose surf culture he'd done so much to legitimise. Tom's family and friends struggled with him, kept his secrets, and looked on in anger and fear as the wheel began to grind him down. Then a window opened ??? but getting through it made charging Pipeline look like a piece of cake ...
This is the story of an unlikely moral education: of humility, family, damage, brotherhood, youth, stupidity, glory, single-mindedness and surrender, and about the feeling of water moving under a surfboard, how it can bind past to present and make sense of lives.
See more at:
www.penguin.com.au/books/tc-9780857987051
