Into the Rip
How the Australian Way of Risk Made My Family Stronger, Happier ... and Less American
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Narrated by:
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Damien Cave
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By:
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Damien Cave
About this listen
When Damien Cave brought his young family to Sydney to set up the New York Times’ Australian Bureau, they encountered the local pursuits of Nippers and surfing - and a completely different approach to risk that changed the way they lived their lives.
Damien Cave has always been fascinated by risk. Having covered the war in Iraq and moved to Mexico City with two babies in nappies, he and his wife Diana thought they understood something about the subject.
But when they arrived in Sydney so that Cave could establish The New York Times’s Australia Bureau, life near the ocean confronted them with new ideas and questions, at odds with their American mindset that risk was a matter of individual choices. Surf-lifesaving and Nippers showed that perhaps it could be managed together, by communities. And instead of being either eliminated or romanticised, it might instead be respected and even embraced.
And so Cave set out to understand how our current attitude to risk developed - and why it’s not necessarily good for us.
Into the Rip is partly the story of this New York family learning to live better by living with the sea and it is partly the story of how humans manage the idea of risk. Interviewing experts and everyday heroes, Cave asks critical questions like: Is safety overrated? Why do we miscalculate risk so often and how can we improve? Is it selfish to take risks or can more exposure make for stronger families, citizens and nations? And how do we factor in legitimate fears and major disasters like Cave has covered in his time here: the Black Summer fires; the Christchurch massacre; and, of course, COVID?
The result is Grit meets Phosphorescence and Any Ordinary Day - a book that will change the way you and your family think about facing the world’s hazards.
"The inspiring, hilarious story of how Damien Cave became a life-saver - only to find that the life he saved was his own." (Richard Glover)
"It often takes a stranger’s eyes to see our own country clearly. By plunging into the Sydney surf, Damien Cave peered into the Australian soul. What he found there - courage, grit, community - is welcome news when our lives and our core values have never seemed so precarious." (Geraldine Brooks)
"Into the Rip is a beautiful tale of one family trying to figure things out - and, at the same time, a brilliant synthesis of a century of psychological science on how all of us can learn to dive headfirst into challenges, grow and adapt, and ultimately do well in life." (Angela Duckworth, New York Times best-selling author of Grit)
©2021 Damien Cave (P)2021 Simon & Schuster AustraliaWhat listeners say about Into the Rip
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rebekah
- 01-07-2022
Enjoyed the story and the conclusion
Well-read and moving, I found this story to be an interesting perspective of Australia (and people) from someone who sees the 'norms' as novel. I'm not from the east coast, so I also enjoyed learning about day to day life of the other side.
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- Angela Grimes
- 06-10-2022
Interesting
It was interesting to see how other people see things that are so normal to us Australians, but I do agree with Damien surfing and the ocean cures everything. I just found that he read it too fast. That is the next thing you will have to learn if you want to fit into Australian lifestyle is to talk slower. ha ha!!
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- Dominic Hacking
- 03-01-2024
Great for expats
Just moved to Australia and enjoyed listening to it as I identified with a lot the feelings, activities and decisions Damian is talks about.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-10-2021
A most enjoyable midlife crisis
Damien Cave gives an excellent reading of his own work. As a person who immigrated to Australia as a child, I wished my New Zealand parents had joined us in swimming lessons as Damien does with his own children. It left me questioning the scarcity of social connections & physical chalkenge in my own life, after seeing all that he & his wife have embraced after arriving in Sydney. I thoroughly enjoyed this book: it was as pleasurable as an afternoon at the beach in excellent company. But it did more - it left me curious & reflecting about myself, my family, my parenting & Australia. Thank you, Damien.
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- Judy Fitz
- 13-06-2022
A thought-provoking journey of a family
Found this personal story very interesting as it examined 'ordinary' Australian life through a different lens - the newcomer. The author (an American journalist) managed to weave his own story of expat living in Sydney with his experience of reporting dramatic events.
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- Nelson
- 10-03-2022
Great Book!
A wonderful story of a family finding it’s home in a foreign country, accompanied by an astute look into the technical aspects of risk. I was transported to the waves of Bronte whilst considering my own risk taking attitudes. Brilliantly read by the author himself.
Thank you Damien!
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- Pamela Dunn
- 09-07-2022
Informative and enlightening
As an American living in Australia, (with a daughter living in NY) I really enjoyed listening to the points raised in this book. I could relate so much!! I found the parallels that the author used with the lessons learned from Surf Lifesaving to lessons in life, the pandemic and even some politics to be so intertwined and interesting. Excellent narrating - fantastic story, thoroughly enjoyed it!
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