Liferider

Heart, Body, Soul, and Life Beyond the Ocean

By: Laird Hamilton, Julian Borra

Narrated by: Elijah Allan-Blitz, Julian Borra, Gabrielle Reece

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Surfing icon Laird Hamilton offers inspiration to anyone who wants to elevate their ordinary, landlocked lives to do extraordinary things.

“When Laird Hamilton surfs, you must watch. When he speaks, I listen. And when he writes a book, I’m damn sure gonna read it. Twice.”—Eddie Vedder, Grammy Award–winning lead vocalist of Pearl Jam

Millions of us increasingly seek happiness in fads and self-help books, reaching upward every day toward some enlightened state that we wish to attain. Laird Hamilton is more intent on looking inward and appreciating the brilliant creatures we already are. In Liferider, Laird uses five key pillars—Death & Fear, Heart, Body, Soul, and Everything Is Connected—to illustrate his unique worldview and life practices.

This is Laird Hamilton in his own words—raw, honest, and unvarnished—on topics he has rarely explored before. Based on extensive interviews and conversations between Laird and his coauthor, Julian Borra, with additional insights from Laird’s wife, pro-volleyball player Gabby Reece, Liferider takes on human resilience, relationships, business, technology, risk-taking, and the importance of respecting the natural world, all through the lens of Laird’s extraordinary life both in and beyond the ocean.

Praise for Liferider

“Laird is a hero, if you want him to be. That’s up to your perception. He challenges himself, and he challenges those around him. He shows us that the deeper we puncture into life, the more vibrant the colors get. The Laird Hamilton I know—real, faulty, moody, deeply loving, and communal—comes through on every page of Liferider.”—Josh Brolin, Award-Winning Actor

“Laird Hamilton is a true individualist unafraid to carve his own path. These thoughtful mediations offer a unique window — illuminating and inspiring — into one of America's great innovators.”—Rory Kennedy, Documentary Filmmaker

Critic reviews

“A powerful message from Laird on what it means to ‘go beyond’ and how it can be applied by all. He hones in on the dualities of life and death, focusing on what’s most important: making the most of the time we have, and living aloha, connected to and caring for each other and our environment.”—Tulsi Gabbard, Congresswoman serving Hawaii's 2nd district

“This book is like a one-on-one chat with Laird, a personal conversation about his philosophies. You can’t be champ without an untamable fire inside, and you can feel that here. His spirit is raw and to the point. As athletes retire and sail into the sunset, Laird keeps pushing, finding and finding new ways to improve.”—Joakim Noah, Two-time NBA All-Star

Inspired Insights from a Legendary Human

Really great listen with various insights that are prescient and powerful. Laird gets to the heart of being human in the 21st Century through the soul of the ocean and the pursuit of meaningful entrepreneurship.

Beautiful. Powerful. Resourceful.

Spirit and meaning meets actionable. This is a needed read for everyone in the 21st Century.

THE VOICE

I have written one book in my life including publishing it for sale on Amazon. It is about knee replacement.
One of the biggest compliments/honors the readers can offer me is two things, One, I can hear your voice when you write, Two, your book helped me out in the process of a knee replacement. This is what made Laird's book special for me. I had the opportunity to do a two-week exploration of Costa Rica with Laird and a few friends before reading this book. I always looked up to Laird for his surfing talents and innovation. But during reading, this book showed me a side of Laird that was much bigger than I ever imagined. His insight his wisdom commands 100% respect. Not just some surf-fueled pages about all of his surfing accomplishments but the genuine struggles and victories along the pathway to greatness. I listen to this book on Audible and it is not his actual voice but instead a narrator but I could still hear Laird's voice which resinated powerfully on message delivery. Laird and his wife Gabby reignited my energy to get off my ass and start moving to make myself better healthier and more success-driven. I highly recommend the book to surfers and nonsurfers alike. 5 stars

Inspirational on many levels... thank you!

From the massive ocean and environment, down to our own physical bodies, the importance of how we live and respect our Earth as well as ourselves ...has been laid before us in this book... thank you for this well written inspiring work ! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rick K.

Not what you expect

This isn’t Laird on foils or SUP. It’s his philosophy on connectedness. It’s not a bro-ography nor is it a blog book (can we stop the cheater reviews calling books “blog posts”?). Enjoyed it, learned some things, appreciated the message. Only wished he would have narrated, but folks get busy. Worth the listen!