A review by categal
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard

1.0

I love origin stories, and was drawn to this to read the story of how Chouinard lives a life of adventure while running a successful business. The beginning was interesting, I liked reading about his early years and how he started making climbing equipment basically on the beach and growing that into a business. The "reluctant" part of the business story wears thin pretty quickly: this guy obviously knows how to run a business, and wants to run a business, so the whole I'm-really-just-an-outdoor-guy-now-running-a-whoopsie!-business does not ring true. As the book goes on, it reads more like an extended version of a Patagonia catalog with Successories-type side bars meant to inspire(!).

If you are interested in thread count and sewing techniques of shell jackets, this book is for you. If not, you might find yourself, like I did, paging through it like any other mail catalog while the tv is on and the dinner is warming up on the stove.