The Wave (2010)

History and surfing lore are crammed with tales of monster 100-foot waves, but scientists had long scoffed at them, claiming that physics didn't allow for such massive swells. In 2000, though, giant waves began to be documented, starting with a British research ship that had the misfortune to be caught in a vortex of them. The Wave, Susan Casey's white-knuckle chronicle — which follows the surfers pursuing the waves and the scientists struggling to understand them — delivers a thrill so intense you may never get in a boat again. A–

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