William Finnegan

First published in 1963, and never updated, except for the tide charts, this is a true guidebook. It tells you where to park and how much you’ll pay (in 1963 prices). Mainly, though, it’s about waves, and how to describe them clearly and accurately. At least, that’s what I loved about it as a kid, and still do. It covers several hundred surf spots between Point Conception and the Mexican border. The Namib dryness of its photo captions never ages.