David Litt It’s Only Drowning review, recensie en informatie boek over surfen van de voormalige speechschrijver van president Barack Obama met een waargebeurd verhaal over leren surfen en de zoektocht naar gemeenschappelijke interesses. Op 24 juni 2025 verschijnt bij Gallery Books het autobiografische boek van David Litt over het plezier dat surfen kan brengen. Hier lees je informatie over de inhoud van het boek, de auteur en over de uitgave. Een Nederlandse vertaling van het boek is niet verkrijgbaar.
David Litt It’s Only Drowning review en recensie
- “The skills Litt honed by speech writing—especially being quick, clever, and funny while imbuing meaning—are on full display here. Though this book is nominally about learning to surf, at the heart of the tale is Litt’s learning to see beyond his assumptions.” (Library Journal)
- “It’s Only Drowning is captivating and engaging, witty and funny, and the deeper issues it raises—about living with uncertainty, the importance of stepping outside one’s comfort zone, and the value in spending time with those who see the world differently—stuck with me long after I put it down. This book is easy to read and hard to forget.” (Robert Rubin, former U.S. Treasury Secretary)
- “Reading It’s Only Drowning feels like those early mornings paddling out into an unpredictable swell—you don’t know what’s 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)
It’s Only Drowning
A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground
- Auteur: David Litt (Verenigde Staten)
- Soort boek: boek over surfen, memoir
- Taal: Engels
- Uitgever: Gallery Books
- Verschijnt: 24 juni 2025
- Omvang: 304 pagina’s
- Uitgave: gebonden boek / ebook / luisterboek
- Prijs: $ 29,99 / $ 14,99 / $ 19,99
- Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol / Libris
Flaptekst van de memoir over surfen van David Litt
A former Obama speechwriter moves to the Jersey Shore and learns to surf with the help of his brother-in-law: a tattooed, truck-driving Joe Rogan superfan.
David, the Yale-educated writer with a fear of sharks, and Matt, the daredevil electrician with a shed full of surfboards, had never been close. But as America’s crises piled up and David spiraled into existential dread, he noticed that his brother-in-law was thriving. He began to suspect Matt’s favorite hobby had something to do with it.
David started taking surf lessons. For months, he wiped out on waves the height of daffodils. Yet, after realizing that surfing could change him both in and out of the water, he set an audacious goal: riding a big wave in Hawaii. He searched for an expert he could trust to guide and protect him—and when he couldn’t find one, he asked Matt. Together, they set out on a journey that spanned coasts, and even continents, before taking them to Oahu’s famously dangerous North Shore.
It’s Only Drowning is a laugh-out-loud love letter to surfing—and so much more. It’s an ode to embarking on adventures at any age. It’s a blueprint for becoming braver at a time when it takes courage just to read the news. Most of all, it’s the story of an unlikely friendship, one that crosses the fault lines of education, ideology, and culture tearing so many of us apart.
David Litt is born 17 September 1986 in New York City. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Thanks, Obama; Democracy in One Book or Less; and It’s Only Drowning. A former senior speechwriter for Barack Obama, described as “the comic muse for the president” for his work on White House Correspondents’ Dinner monologues, he has also written for The New 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. He and his wife divide their time between Washington, DC, and Asbury Park, New Jersey.