Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence GonzalesSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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Read in February, 2008
I gave this book to my husband for Christmas. He never read it and yesterday I picked it up and started reading. Fascinating! The author's father survived being shot down in a plane in WWII, falling without a parachute, nearly being shot by a German farmer (the gun jammed), being treated without anaesthetic in the POW camp where he received just enough food to keep him alive, barely. Yet he did survive and he came home and had a successful career as a scientist and fathered 9 sons.
His son was ...more
His son was ...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Paige by:
dadrecommends it for: people interested in survival
I'd say it was like 3-3.5 stars, but I rounded up because I'm nice.
So...my dad really recommended this book to me. I can see why it'd be the sort of thing he'd like: I was rolling my eyes constantly (more in the beginning than at the end, but maybe that's just because I got used to it). That's not to say I'm not glad that I read it--I am really glad that I did, because it was entertaining and he did share a lot of good information. I wrote down all the titles of the books he references, h...more
So...my dad really recommended this book to me. I can see why it'd be the sort of thing he'd like: I was rolling my eyes constantly (more in the beginning than at the end, but maybe that's just because I got used to it). That's not to say I'm not glad that I read it--I am really glad that I did, because it was entertaining and he did share a lot of good information. I wrote down all the titles of the books he references, h...more
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Life can be cruel and relentless. The energy of the world does not pause for us. Sometimes things happen outside of our control, and other times our seemingly harmless decisions create conditions where we find ourselves suddenly in precarious situations. Regardless of cause, it is my belief that all of us will find ourselves in a situation where survival skills are important in order to manage our situation and rise above the circumstances. With this backdrop I sought wisdom from those who h...more
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Read in April, 2008
I guess I should start writing comments, eh? I liked this book, even though he harps on some of the same points over and over. But in doing so keeps giving examples, a few of which resonated with me. The stories of survival (and sometimes of not surviving) are great, using both amazingly heroic tales of freak chance to illustrate a point (survival at sea, etc), to someone getting lost while going for a hike. And it all applies.
This guy is obviously all about his father (who has an amaz...more
This guy is obviously all about his father (who has an amaz...more
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recommended to Ginnie by:
Donald Powell
When I read Donald's review today I was reminded me of my single moment of life saving insight. Roughly fifty years ago we were living in Portuguese Bend on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and my main shopping destination was San Pedro about ten miles of windy scenic one-lane highway away. Returning one afternoon with only myself and an as yet unborn eight-month future Prickett in the car, I rounded a curve and saw a car stopped in the middle of the road while the driver had got out and was taking ph...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
outdoors folks, and indoors folks who want to survive the outdoors
Not exactly either a series of survival stories or a how-to-survive handbook, but interesting nonetheless. This books does include both. It's always interesting that survivors -- say after a plane crash, or a shipwreck, or lost in the woods, or after a mountain climbing accident, or in a P.O.W. camp (all of which are discussed here) -- are often not the youngest, fittest, strongest people in the group. There's something psychological about survival in these situations, and Gonzales explores t...more
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Read in January, 2008
For those who want to understand how some people have survived what appears the impossible. This book is filled with fascinating stories of survival and tragedy. Even by doing everything right and having luck on your side you may still perish conversely doing everything wrong and having no luck you may survive. Sure it's a carp shoot but doing and understanding some basic tenants will give you much better odds of survival and that maybe the difference between living and dying.
This book takes...more
This book takes...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
I was attracted to the subtitle--who lives, who dies, and why. It took me a couple chapters to get into this book. It seemed to be heavily focused on the author and his experiences, some of which didn't seem to be much about survival. But his father's story of surviving a plane crash during war did, and that was amazing.
Gonzales structured his chapters in a way that gripped me--he would provide the basics of a real-life story and then would interrupt the story with pertinent research, leavi...more
Gonzales structured his chapters in a way that gripped me--he would provide the basics of a real-life story and then would interrupt the story with pertinent research, leavi...more
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i read about this book in national geographic adventure magazine. they had a three-page spread about gonzales, his story, and the impetus for this book. it seemed fascinating, the 'theory' behind survival and why certain people beat the odds and survive a harrowing situation, while others give up and die after only one day. the book was rather disappointing...there really is no 'theory' behind survival. gonzales is not a great writer, and he doesn't make any kind of argument. basically, the...more
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Read in July, 2008
Interesting book... Gonzales jumps back and forth between intriguing real-life story-telling and simplified explanations of Complexity Theory, Chaos Theory, Psychology, Neuroscience, Tao Te Ching, the Stages of Dying, etc… For good measure, he also throws in a few highly poetic passages; waxing profound about the night desert, and other places.
Just so you know… the first half of the book, is mostly those who DON’T survive. All the mistakes and such that led to bad consequences. You...more
Just so you know… the first half of the book, is mostly those who DON’T survive. All the mistakes and such that led to bad consequences. You...more
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Read in May, 2007
Fascinating, fascinating read on the the human fight for survival. Gonzales explores the "hardwired" reasons for Man's survival, and how sometimes that fails them. In addition, he looks at some of the "software" programming that goes into humans, and how that influences them in pressure, literally life-and-death situations.
This book covers anecdotal instances of people in death situations: a man whose boat has been struck by a whale, and the boat is capsizing in the middl...more
This book covers anecdotal instances of people in death situations: a man whose boat has been struck by a whale, and the boat is capsizing in the middl...more
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Read in January, 2007
Wow. In addition to hair-raising stories, Gonzales throws in a little brain research to help us understand why we respond as we do in survival situations. Who's most likely to survive being lost in the woods? Kids five and under. (They listen to their bodies.) Least likely? Teenagers from the 'burbs and adults. (No natural predators; too "rational.")
As it turns out, some people, when faced with a survival situation, simply lie down and die. Literally.
Some folks die of termina...more
As it turns out, some people, when faced with a survival situation, simply lie down and die. Literally.
Some folks die of termina...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
I thought this book was going to be about wilderness survival stories and it is - but so much more; it's really about what it is that goes in our brains, our emotions, our psyche's when confronted with all sorts of extreme situations, such as being lost - which can be in the woods or in a personal relationship, or being shipwrecked, be that on an actual ship or feeling shipwrecked at your job. I loved the combo of real stories of real people and the lay person's easy to understand science and t...more
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Read in August, 2008
3.75 stars.
I might have given it 4 stars except that it was really hard to get into. Several of my fellow book club members (including myself) had a hard time reading it initially. In fact, I had to take a break between Part I and II to read another book just to give my mind a rest. However, Part II regarding surviving situations I thought was very interesting. Especially the psychological factors influencing survival. I found myself getting a little anxious to get back to my book during thi...more
I might have given it 4 stars except that it was really hard to get into. Several of my fellow book club members (including myself) had a hard time reading it initially. In fact, I had to take a break between Part I and II to read another book just to give my mind a rest. However, Part II regarding surviving situations I thought was very interesting. Especially the psychological factors influencing survival. I found myself getting a little anxious to get back to my book during thi...more
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In the near future I don't think I'll find myself in the life or death situations like the people described in this book. Yet the tales of people trapped in avalanches or in jungles still has a deep resonance with me. The factors that separate those who survive and those who don't seem trivial, as if luck played the deciding role.
I definitely identified with one passage, where the snowmobiler rides up the mountain anyway, as if on autopilot. He gets to a certain point, disturbs the snow balan...more
I definitely identified with one passage, where the snowmobiler rides up the mountain anyway, as if on autopilot. He gets to a certain point, disturbs the snow balan...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Daniel by:
My motherrecommends it for: All my outdoor friends
Anyone who participates in risky endevors such as Rock Climbing, mountaineering, backpaking, wilderness travel, rafting, or any other activiy should read this book. It is very anaylitical and details the human brain. The first part of the book is why accidents happen and how they happen. The second part details how some people survive against increadible odds while others die in less trying circumstances. There are many stories of survival and each one is disected and illistrates what is takes t...more
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Read in July, 2007
A patient recommended this one...
This is a really interesting overview of psychological factors invloved in extreme survival experiences. The first half was more scholarly; detailing even the brain structures involved in fear vs. planning in situations such as being lost. I found the second half especially interesting, though, because he discussed a number of really fascinating survival stories and what made the difference between life and death. I especially liked the lost at sea stories, and...more
This is a really interesting overview of psychological factors invloved in extreme survival experiences. The first half was more scholarly; detailing even the brain structures involved in fear vs. planning in situations such as being lost. I found the second half especially interesting, though, because he discussed a number of really fascinating survival stories and what made the difference between life and death. I especially liked the lost at sea stories, and...more
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Read in April, 2008
Good premise. Good promise. Seemed to connect how the brain functions and what happens physiologically to people in situations where they really could die, but didn't live up to the promise. Great selection of tales from survivors who got lost, shipwrecked, fell out of airplanes, had mountain climbing accidents. And good observation of people who did stupid things and didn't survive. I'm going to xerox the back of the book 'Rules of Adventure' that make it more likely that you will walk out...more
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Read in July, 2008
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recommends it for:
Richard
Not what I expected at first, but it turned out to be a very telling analysis of some of the factors/conditions that contribute ot a person's likelihood of survival in desperate life scenarios found in nature, accidents, recreation etc.
There were cases where acutal stories of survival were interjected to help illustrate a particular set of survival conditions. A "must read" if you are a person who likes to be out in the natural world, and/or you like calculated risks with wind, wa...more
There were cases where acutal stories of survival were interjected to help illustrate a particular set of survival conditions. A "must read" if you are a person who likes to be out in the natural world, and/or you like calculated risks with wind, wa...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.92 (505 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.87 (500 ratings) number of reviews: 164
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"We don't understand the power of nature and the world because we don't live with it. Our environment is designed to sustain us. We are the domestic pets of a human zoo called civilization."
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