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Liferider: Heart, Body, Soul, and Life Beyond the Ocean
You can run, swim, dive, fly. You are amazing. You have untapped potential in you that would blow your mind. — From the introduction.
While the world increasingly seeks happiness in fads and self-help books—millions of us reaching upward every day toward some enlightened being that we wish to be—surfing icon Laird Hamilton is more intent on looking inward and appreciating the brilliant creature 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, offering inspiration to anyone who wants to elevate their ordinary, landlocked life to do extraordinary things.
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 cowriter, 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.
While the world increasingly seeks happiness in fads and self-help books—millions of us reaching upward every day toward some enlightened being that we wish to be—surfing icon Laird Hamilton is more intent on looking inward and appreciating the brilliant creature 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, offering inspiration to anyone who wants to elevate their ordinary, landlocked life to do extraordinary things.
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 cowriter, 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.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published March 12, 2019
116 people are currently reading
443 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 22, 2019
Decent book on Laird Hamilton’s viewpoint on how to succeed in business and in life. I was expecting this to be more about his surfing but the concept and format of the book works for the message he is conveying. The additional commentary by his wife Gabby was something that really wasn’t needed as it felt like she was explaining why Laird believed this particular method or idea is successful. That wasn’t necessary as he explains them in full himself very capably. This is a decent book for those into self-help books but wasn’t really my cup of tea. It gets three stars.
January 3, 2019
"Liferider" is a unique and fascinating book; Borra's writing in excellent and insightful as he shares Hamilton's life story and philosophy, as well as views from others who have been instrumental in Hamilton's journey. I definitely recommend this book for fans of Laird Hamilton's previous book/documentary, big wave riders, surfers of all kinds, and visionaries.
March 23, 2020
This might be the worst book I have ever read. At the end of the day, I blame myself. But wow.
January 6, 2022
A decent read with some things to take away and think about but also some things I’m not sure of. I don’t like being told of things from one dimension I.e. this is how it is type attitude. Although I did like the compassion elements of this book and how everything we do is connected and a reminder to spend time remembering this.
May 15, 2023
I read 3/4 of it and couldn’t go on. I’m a surfer myself and admire Laird, but this writing style just got stale to me. There seems to be a lot of preaching and ranting that really sounds like what he would be saying in a podcast interview (was it?), and the effort to wordsmith his messages just doesn’t seem to be there like it is in other books that I enjoy. His brand seemed to dominate the tone of the book with some type of Godly, all-knowing voice that got to feeling redundant and dare I say, inauthentic? Hopefully Laird doesn’t read this! Still a GOAT
April 28, 2024
The format of this book is frustrating as I was primarily curious to hear from Laird, but a good portion of the book is the co-author and Gabrielle singing Laird’s praises about how compassionate he is, or how big his heart is, or how he only does what he believes in. I get it, he’s awesome, and hardworking, but it just felt like a Laird Hamilton cheerleading book over something worth learning from.
April 18, 2019
As much as I love Laird Hamilton, there isn't much to this book. It's mainly quotes and people describing Laird. If you've seen any surfing documentary involving Laird then you already know everything in this.
January 18, 2020
It’s Laird, so it can’t be bad. Overview of how he views life and a glimpse at his business perspective. Thought the content was a little dry and redundant. Although presented solid advice from his paradigm. Was hoping there would be more about surfing and fitness.
April 11, 2020
Before the whole shelter-in-place, I was debating about checking out this book; the cover caught my eye and was going to pass on it until I was heading out and decided that sometimes you just got to take a chance, get uncomfortable and do it. I'm glad I did because that's one of the things Laird mentioned in his book.
Like Laird mentioned, this isn't a self-help book; I considered it Laird's philosophy of life, it could be how he grew and understood the life of the surfer or the perspective of understanding the Hawaiian life from the lens of an outsider and translating it for us common people, or maybe this is truly what Laird took out of life and put it down on pen and paper. Regardless, there's no science/facts behind this but his own experiences on why these five pillars make sense.
My interpretations of the five pillars are:
- Death and Fear: Sometimes you have to face your fears and just do it. Yes, it's scary, but you don't want to live a life full of regrets, thinking "I should have done that" or "Damn it, why didn't I do that?" Life takes you certain places and tests every one and we have been prone to take the path of least resistance, like water. But why not walk to the beat of your own heart?
- Heart: Instead of the brain being the center of the body, why isn't the heart? Everything is connected to the heart. Muscles are nice, but people forget the most important thing about life is how to breathe. Incorporate cardio in your exercise routine, rather than just weight training and it doesn't have to be running. Why not walk and enjoy nature around us? Laird made a comment, saying that the heart is more than just an organ; think about it, "Let's get to the heart of the situation" or "That person has a lot of heart".
- Body: As our society continues to evolve, we're so connected virtually, that we forget that we communicated with face-to-face interaction in the past. Put down your phone and actually make an effort to know people in person. One thing I took from this is one should try to understand the entire journey, taking a mundane task that you REALLY dislike, and think about all the different components of how this task got to you, and what will happen after you complete the task and how many people it impacts.
- Soul: Listen to your breathing once in a while; it's the most calming thing one can do. In fact, you should also listen to your body. We're at a place that we forget that we listen to everyone, but we don't listen to ourselves, telling us what we need to do to fix ourselves.
- Everything is Connected: I think the pillar speaks for itself.
Like Laird mentioned, this isn't a self-help book; I considered it Laird's philosophy of life, it could be how he grew and understood the life of the surfer or the perspective of understanding the Hawaiian life from the lens of an outsider and translating it for us common people, or maybe this is truly what Laird took out of life and put it down on pen and paper. Regardless, there's no science/facts behind this but his own experiences on why these five pillars make sense.
My interpretations of the five pillars are:
- Death and Fear: Sometimes you have to face your fears and just do it. Yes, it's scary, but you don't want to live a life full of regrets, thinking "I should have done that" or "Damn it, why didn't I do that?" Life takes you certain places and tests every one and we have been prone to take the path of least resistance, like water. But why not walk to the beat of your own heart?
- Heart: Instead of the brain being the center of the body, why isn't the heart? Everything is connected to the heart. Muscles are nice, but people forget the most important thing about life is how to breathe. Incorporate cardio in your exercise routine, rather than just weight training and it doesn't have to be running. Why not walk and enjoy nature around us? Laird made a comment, saying that the heart is more than just an organ; think about it, "Let's get to the heart of the situation" or "That person has a lot of heart".
- Body: As our society continues to evolve, we're so connected virtually, that we forget that we communicated with face-to-face interaction in the past. Put down your phone and actually make an effort to know people in person. One thing I took from this is one should try to understand the entire journey, taking a mundane task that you REALLY dislike, and think about all the different components of how this task got to you, and what will happen after you complete the task and how many people it impacts.
- Soul: Listen to your breathing once in a while; it's the most calming thing one can do. In fact, you should also listen to your body. We're at a place that we forget that we listen to everyone, but we don't listen to ourselves, telling us what we need to do to fix ourselves.
- Everything is Connected: I think the pillar speaks for itself.
May 2, 2019
Listened to the audiobook.
I really liked the message of the book. I've never set foot on a surfboard but as an replace surfing with ultrarunning and ocean with woods and I think we have a lot in common.
A lot of the same issues when it comes to performance and environment. So maybe my review is a bit subjective.
Because looking at it objectively, it's all over the place. From developing boards, to breathing, family and the environment. I think for a lot of people this book misses structure.
Personally I like the chaotic approach. Sometimes there is a lot of wisdom in rambling. And the whole book feels like a lot of talk loosely structured in a somewhat of a coherent story. Basically things that are on Laird's mind. And I think he has a lot of interesting things to say. Thinking of a lot of things we all should think about.
What I didn't like about the book are the Laird quotes. They are unnecessary. And often are in the form how great Laird is.
The interruptions by Gabby could be way better. They shine when they are longer and have some anekdotes. But sometimes they are just "Laird is intense". Okay...
But to conclude I really enjoyed it.
I really liked the message of the book. I've never set foot on a surfboard but as an replace surfing with ultrarunning and ocean with woods and I think we have a lot in common.
A lot of the same issues when it comes to performance and environment. So maybe my review is a bit subjective.
Because looking at it objectively, it's all over the place. From developing boards, to breathing, family and the environment. I think for a lot of people this book misses structure.
Personally I like the chaotic approach. Sometimes there is a lot of wisdom in rambling. And the whole book feels like a lot of talk loosely structured in a somewhat of a coherent story. Basically things that are on Laird's mind. And I think he has a lot of interesting things to say. Thinking of a lot of things we all should think about.
What I didn't like about the book are the Laird quotes. They are unnecessary. And often are in the form how great Laird is.
The interruptions by Gabby could be way better. They shine when they are longer and have some anekdotes. But sometimes they are just "Laird is intense". Okay...
But to conclude I really enjoyed it.
February 2, 2021
I suspect lots of people either love this guy or hate him for his image. I don’t think he cares. Some good stuff:
“If you’re following your intuition and you’re following your heart— then you may think I don’t know if I’m ready for the ass whipping I’m going to get—but I’m here and I know why I’m here.”
Compassion as the greatest trait of a leader (vis a vis, Christopher MacDougal’s Natural Born Leaders)
If we don’t quit fucking up the planet, it will shake us off like a bad case of the fleas (my phrasing)
“We need to keep evolving and learning and growing. And we need connectivity to do that. We need the friction of experience. The ones that shape us are the ones that keep us humble, thankful and appreciative and also maybe a little more methodical when you approach things, a little less reckless in your approach, the things that saved you along the way, these are the ones that shape us.”
On the daily:
Fire up—cold shower to shock the system sensible
Fuel up—Whatever is good and gets you going COFFEE and eggs (carbs apparently bloat him)
Open out—connect and commit to some other being hug, kiss, pet the franimals
“If you’re following your intuition and you’re following your heart— then you may think I don’t know if I’m ready for the ass whipping I’m going to get—but I’m here and I know why I’m here.”
Compassion as the greatest trait of a leader (vis a vis, Christopher MacDougal’s Natural Born Leaders)
If we don’t quit fucking up the planet, it will shake us off like a bad case of the fleas (my phrasing)
“We need to keep evolving and learning and growing. And we need connectivity to do that. We need the friction of experience. The ones that shape us are the ones that keep us humble, thankful and appreciative and also maybe a little more methodical when you approach things, a little less reckless in your approach, the things that saved you along the way, these are the ones that shape us.”
On the daily:
Fire up—cold shower to shock the system sensible
Fuel up—Whatever is good and gets you going COFFEE and eggs (carbs apparently bloat him)
Open out—connect and commit to some other being hug, kiss, pet the franimals
June 5, 2019
This book was primarily about Laird's philosophies on Life. I love and agree with his take on the on how everything is connected. And that a lot of people's lack of environmental concerns are due to the fact that they no longer spend time in nature. And that if we change THAT, then people are more likely to care about what they are doing to nature and the oceans and make steps to change.
How can you protect something you know nothing about? We've only explored 3%of the ocean or some crazy thing - but we've killed 90% of the fish.
-Laird Hamilton
We must put aside short-term national gain to prevent long term global catastrophe. Conserving our oceans and using them sustainably is preserving life itself.
-UH Secretary General Antonio Guterres
How can you protect something you know nothing about? We've only explored 3%of the ocean or some crazy thing - but we've killed 90% of the fish.
-Laird Hamilton
We must put aside short-term national gain to prevent long term global catastrophe. Conserving our oceans and using them sustainably is preserving life itself.
-UH Secretary General Antonio Guterres
February 16, 2023
After graduating from my masters program this fall, I’ve recently been focusing on my health again. I recently reread SuperLife by Darin Olien & he mentioned this specific book a couple of times. Therefore, I knew I had to read! I really enjoyed the mindset that Laird moves through life with and how he applies this concept to not only his sport of surfing, but to family, business, and health as well. This was a pleasant eye opening read.
June 6, 2019
I really connect with this books Message. I really wish it was written a little bit better. "The Bare Foot Business" sections seemed shoe horned in and I really didn't understand the connection with the sections they were suppose to compliment. I going to defiantly reread this book book but skip those sections.
May 29, 2019
It’s ok. There wasn’t anything new. A previous reviewer, Angie nailed it when she said (I am paraphrasing) that if you are familiar with Laird and heard him in interviews then you pretty much know the book already.
June 24, 2019
A wonderful book for any interested person working toward self improvement. You don't need to be a surfer to appreciate the Laridisms provided throughout the book. I have always appreciated his candor about life. I leaned a lot about improving myself and making better waves in the future.
November 29, 2020
I enjoyed the style in how it was written - the moderator introducing a topic, Laird explaining his point of view and Gabby sharing her supportive role and her mutual respect of Laird. Athletic, spiritual and businesslike in all the good ways possible. I admire Lairds view of the world.
June 1, 2021
Interesting take
Very interesting to hear what drives someone like Laird. I am as far away from a surfer as one can be, but there is still an appreciation of his dedication and effort to life.
Very interesting to hear what drives someone like Laird. I am as far away from a surfer as one can be, but there is still an appreciation of his dedication and effort to life.
December 23, 2021
“There’s a physical manifestation of every emotional sensation and there’s always an emotional manifestation of every physical sensation. It’s never really any one thing - everything is connected.”
This book pushes you to reflect on your own life. So many insights, highly recommend ✨
This book pushes you to reflect on your own life. So many insights, highly recommend ✨
April 22, 2019
Enjoyed this thoroughly. Great lessons on how to live a more fulfilling life in these times of technological advances. We need to connect to nature and to each other.
July 15, 2019
Great look at an interesting guy and his business and life philosophies. Worth a read
August 21, 2019
3 1/2 Stars
May 24, 2020
I like laird Hamilton’s books as well as his Philosophy’s. He never stops pushing for the best in his self and the people around him , as well as the planet.
August 27, 2020
Interesting to learn about Laird Hamilton’s beliefs and life philosophy.
Very badly written. Sounds more like a non-edited conversation than a book.
Very badly written. Sounds more like a non-edited conversation than a book.
August 16, 2022
I appreciated the raw nature of the book. The book made me rethink my relationship with nature and my surroundings, as well as what I am physically capable of.
February 20, 2024
Laird makes the case for our connectivity with nature and in all aspects of life. There are some gems in this book as he goes into breathing and his life philosophy.
May 4, 2025
Beautiful book on how to live and evolve. Went by fast.
September 4, 2023
For decades I've been a fan of Laird Hamilton and his commitment to fitness, innovation, and fearless big wave surfing. Having said that, I'm not sure that I'm ready to add "writing" to that list.
The book has some interesting insights, but the tone lacks humility, often coming off preachy and holier than thou.
That aside, the epilogue was excellent; the importance of preserving the oceans was well presented and was truly an inspiration.
The book has some interesting insights, but the tone lacks humility, often coming off preachy and holier than thou.
That aside, the epilogue was excellent; the importance of preserving the oceans was well presented and was truly an inspiration.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews