It's Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Pursuit of Common Ground

(Hardback)

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After moving from Washington, DC, to the Jersey Shore, a former speechwriter for President Obama starts surfing at the age of thirty-fivethe rough equivalent of beginning guitar lessons on your deathbedand must turn for help to the only other surfer he knows: a tattooed, truck-driving, Joe Rogan superfan who happens to be his brother-in-law.

David Litt, the Yale-educated writer with a sensible fear of sharks, and Matt, the daredevil electrician with two motorcycles and a passion for death metal, had always coexisted from a comfortable distance as brothers-in-law. Yet in 2021, as David wallowed in existential dread while Americas crises piled up, he couldnt help but notice that Matt was thriving. When he wasnt making money rewiring New Jersey beach homes, Matt was riding waves at his favorite spots in the state.

Quietly, David started taking surfing lessons. For a few months, he suffered through wipeouts on waves the height of daffodils. But to his surprise, he soon became obsessed. And once he got a sense of the ways that fully committing to surfing could change him both in the water and on land, he set his sights on an unlikely goal: riding a big wave at Hawaiis famously dangerous North Shore. To get there, hed need Matts help.

At a moment when the fault lines of class, education, and culture threaten to tear our country apart, Its Only Drowning is a blueprint for becoming braver at a time when it takes courage just to read the news, a love letter to surfing in the vein of William Finnegans Barbarian Days, and a poignant buddy comedy in the tradition of Bill Brysons A Walk in the Woods.

Reviews

ReadingIts Only Drowningfeels like those early mornings paddling out into an unpredictable swellyou dont know whats coming, but you feel alive just being out there. David's book is not just a surfing memoir it's about the connections that keep us going.
LAIRD HAMILTON, legendary big-wave surfer and author ofForce of Nature

I have no connection to surf culture and I loved this book! It's witty, insightful, and will leave you feeling surprisingly optimistic about the future.
SAMI SAGE, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Democracy in Retrograde

It's Only Drowningis delightful and an instant classic. David Litt has given us a coming-of-age story in the best senseabout a person, a passion, a friendship, and a moment in history. And the book is wickedly funny from beginning to end."
JAMES FALLOWS,New York Timesbestselling author ofOur Towns

David Litt has written a surfing memoir thats about so much more than surfing. It's an insightful, hilarious, surprisingly moving story about the nature of friendship and the search for common ground, and I loved it.
JUDD APATOW,New York Timesbestselling author ofSick in the Head

So funny. So smart. If youre a millennial panicking as you approach middle age, read this book!
ILANA GLAZER, cocreator of Broad City

Author Bio

David Littis theNew York Timesbestselling author ofThanks, Obama;Democracy in One Book or Less; andIts Only Drowning. A former senior speechwriter for Barack Obama, described as the comic muse for the president for his work on the White House Correspondents Dinner monologues, he has also written forTheNew York Times,The Atlantic,The Washington Post,Los Angeles Times,Cosmopolitan,and more. Along with writing speeches and jokes for political figures, athletes, Fortune 500 CEOs, and philanthropists, David was the head writer/producer at Funny Or Die, DC, and has written and sold comedy pilots for Comedy Central, ABC, and NBC. Raised in New York, he and his wife now split their time between Washington DC, and Asbury Park, New Jersey. Find out more at DavidLittBooks.com.