by Lawrence Gonzales
I bought the book because I wanted to prove myself that I would be survivor of extreme situations. I am not sure anymore.
It is definitely not a book to get tips how to survive disasters or other difficult situations. There are only twelve survival tips in the appendix – but these are actually just a good summary of teh book.
The book tries to analyze how people react in “live or die” situations. Gonzales presents a lot of real cases, he actually interviewed most of them. There are some famous survivors between them, e.k Joe Simpson who was cut off the rope by his mountain partner, had a broken leg, fell into a crevasse and crawled out of it and back to the camp for various days. He relates their actions – survivor’s and fatal victims alike – to how our brain works. A lot of room is given to the latest discoveries of neuroscience. Do not worry, it is not dry science alone since it is always related to the real case. It is easily digestible and very, very interesting. He tries to answer the question: “What were they thinking?” (when somebody does stupid things, like risking his life).
The first part of teh book is called: “How accidents happen”, and the second just simply: “Survival”. It is really worth reading it, I will keep it as handbook.
It is definitely not a book to get tips how to survive disasters or other difficult situations. There are only twelve survival tips in the appendix – but these are actually just a good summary of teh book.
The book tries to analyze how people react in “live or die” situations. Gonzales presents a lot of real cases, he actually interviewed most of them. There are some famous survivors between them, e.k Joe Simpson who was cut off the rope by his mountain partner, had a broken leg, fell into a crevasse and crawled out of it and back to the camp for various days. He relates their actions – survivor’s and fatal victims alike – to how our brain works. A lot of room is given to the latest discoveries of neuroscience. Do not worry, it is not dry science alone since it is always related to the real case. It is easily digestible and very, very interesting. He tries to answer the question: “What were they thinking?” (when somebody does stupid things, like risking his life).
The first part of teh book is called: “How accidents happen”, and the second just simply: “Survival”. It is really worth reading it, I will keep it as handbook.
Facts:
English title: Deep Survival
Original title: Deep Survival
Published: 2003
