Just Add Water: A Surfing Savant's Journey with Asperger's - Hardcover

From the best freestyle surfer in the world, an inspiring and moving memoir about his ascendance to the top of the surfing world while struggling for most of his young life with undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome

Clay Marzo has an almost preternatural gift with a surfboard. From his first moments underwater (he learned to swim at two months old) to his first ventures atop his father’s surfboard as a toddler, it was obvious that Marzo’s single-minded focus on all things surfing was unique. But not until late in his teens, when this surfing phenom was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, did the deeper reasons for his obsession—and his astonishing gift for surfing—become clear.

Just Add Water is the remarkable story of Marzo’s rise to the top of the pro surfing world—and the personal trials he overcame in making it there. Marzo endured a difficult childhood. He was a colicky baby who his mother found could be soothed only with water. Later, as he entered school, his undiagnosed Asperger’s made it tough for him to relate to his peers and fit in, but his relationship with the wave was elemental. Marzo could always turn to surfing, the only place where he truly felt at peace.

Unflinching and inspiring, Just Add Water is a brave memoir from a one-of-a-kind surfing savant who has electrified fans around the world with his gift and whose story speaks boldly to the hope and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Advance praise for Just Add Water
 
“A hyperactive, autistic kid who could not pay attention in school becomes a top surfer. The water was his power source and he thrived in a sport that he loved.”
—Temple Grandin, author of The Autistic Brain

“Clay Marzo is an amazing, nearly amphibious surfer, with a one-of-a-kind life story. What an inspiring book!”
—Matt Warshaw, author of The Encyclopedia of Surfing
 
“Marzo is one of the most amazing surfers to come along in years. He’s fantastic—and so is this book. Great stuff.” 
—Peter Townend, 1976 world surfing champion