. >> rose: we conclude this evening with laird hamilton, the extraordinary surfer, and susan casey, the author of a book called "the wave: in pursuit of the rogues, freaks, and giants of the ocean." >> the planet is mostly ocean and life comes from the ocean. and so one of the things i really aim to do with my writing is to take people into these places and show them the incredible majesty and in some cases the fear and in some cases the wackiness. but there's, like, a parallel universe. and it's in our world that we live in. how often do we see it. >> and if you part patriot, then you'll appreciate, then you'll revere. so all of those things i think are so critical in what needs to happen for the ocean. we need these books, we need these waves, we need people to be in awe of them maybe at first, to participate in activities and then ultimately be pro active in trying to protect the ocean. >> rose: melody barnes, laird hamilton and susan casey when we return. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: melody barnes is he

. >> reporter: susan casey, an author and a journalist who has been covering surfing for years, became rogue waves. because she couldn't get over one little-known fact. >> sometimes these ships don't even have time to send an s.o.s. signal. that's pretty common. >> because the wave comes so fast? >> yeah. just suddenly, boom. >> reporter: she discovered that ships disappear in the ocean without a trace every single week. >> do we know how many of them were destroyed by waves and -- >> they don't exactly because they're just gone. ♪ >> reporter: while researching her new book "the waves," she decided to follow someone who heads straight into the jaws of some of the ocean's most dangerous walls of water. >> i always tell people, you know, dinosaurs are dead but big waves aren't, and to see a wave that's 80 or 100 feet and be out in those waves, it's like being amongst the -- you know, amongst the dinosaurs. >> reporter: laird hamilton is a big wave surfer who has tackled waves no one thought possible. >> oh! >> last winter in hawaii was as big a winter as we've ever seen. >> reporter: bi

a very exciting and dramatic way, the environment, scientists and surfers are all the stars of susan casey'spe out communities. she's written about them in a book "the wave," in pursuit of rogues, freaks and giants of the ocean. with her is laird hamilton, one of a handful of people in the world, who has been on top of these giants. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> ladies first. susan, early and often you write, on average, two dozen large ships go missing and take their crews with them. and entire towns have been washed away. why don't we know more about these waves? >> the big problem, a lot of times when people see a giant wave, they don't come back and tell about it. i wanted to find people that could take me to the top, and by extension, readers, to the top of a 100-foot wave and see what it's like. >> the stories are incredible. and you craft words, descriptions, images, more beautifully than anyone i have red in modern day. it's lovely, the way you write. why was it important for you to tell the wave story? >> this is an ocean planet. we know so little

new book, it's called the wave, in pursuit of the rogues, freaks, and giants of the ocean, author susan casey us now and you actually have ridden one of these things. >> i did, i went down the face of a 50-foot wave with a jet ski. >> with layered hamilton. >> right. jon: what was that like? >> it was bracing, it was exciting, the wave was extremely steep, but the one thing i noticed was the g forces are so intense when you're on a wave that big that i really had a hard time turning my head but i could -- but i want to see the lip but i couldn't turn my head. jenna: a lot of people are looking at this video thinking that's crazy. why do people chase these wave? >> in the case of surfers, this is their life. it's a small, elite band, they can surf a 100-foot wave if they can find t i call it a globe at scal eveninger hunt. they can tell when the storms create the waves. >> there have been a lot of people killed doing this. >> it's not a sport for the faint hearted, that's for sure, and the first time i went out with a group on the west coast, unfortunately, a surfer lost his life to ghost tree

susan levin, registered dietician, thanks for weighing in. appreciate that. >> thank you. >>> the jig is up for joaquin phoenix and casey affleck.op from courtney hazlett who we know is going to be around for 54 years and then some. actually, not really. but, anyway, joaquin phoenix, what happened here? >> this documentary "i'm still here" where he grew a beard and declared he was going to quit acting and generally developed the habits of your random miscreant. it's not real. his director casey affleck finally came out and said, no, it was a hoax. unicorns aren't real either. we have all been talking about this for the better part of a year. no way he's quitting and taking on this persona and going it be a hip-hop artist. he's talking to diddy right there in that scene. joaquin phoenix. he was also responsible for one of the best letterman appearances in recent history when he was on the show last year. back on the show next week. interesting to see how he addresses all the attention he got last year and which brand of joaquin phoenix will be showing up for the interview. >> remember that he was so bizarre on letterman. >> so bi