Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence Gonzales
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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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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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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 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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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 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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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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Read in November, 2007
This book was an interesting exploration into why certain people get themselves into and not necessarily out of life-threatening situations. Many of his examples were relevant to every-day experiences and not just extreme sports and adventures. His couple chapters on accident theory were totally new to me and got me thinking about accidents in a very different way. The only big complaint I had with the book was the author's generalizations about behavior based on a limited data set. I think ...more
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Hmm, So-so, i really liked the idea, but i'm not overly fond of the execution, he hem's and haw's on about the neo-cortex and the hypo-thalaymus and the breakdown of known systems, which is fine , a little bit, but not for the first 150 pages, alas, when he finally get's to the grit of people's tale's of survival(or not), they aren't fluid, it's back to the neo-cortex and into the middle of another person's story, then back to the first story, confused? And what is up with some story about Lyle...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommended to Abram by:
Amazonrecommends it for: everyone
This is one of the few books I can give five stars to. I would recommend this book to anyone. I found it easy to understand but the author's writing style might be to scattered for some. The book is a study in the mental capacities of people that survive very life threatening events. The cover has a picture of a rock climber on it and may lead some to believe it is a sort of adreneline junky's guide to being more extreme, but don't be deceived it contains valuable information for the common pers...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
dudes in DKE
Larry half-digested a bunch of philosophy and psych 101 books, put on a muscle tee and aviator sunglasses, and squeezed out this turd of a book.
He strings together quotes from smarter men, says irritating things like, "boss feeling", and talks about how brave he is flying stupid airplanes, and riding stupid motorcycles with Lyle Lovett.
I was so excited about reading DEEP SURVIVAL because it was supposed to analyze some of my favorite survival stories. I guess I could have anti...more
He strings together quotes from smarter men, says irritating things like, "boss feeling", and talks about how brave he is flying stupid airplanes, and riding stupid motorcycles with Lyle Lovett.
I was so excited about reading DEEP SURVIVAL because it was supposed to analyze some of my favorite survival stories. I guess I could have anti...more
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This book is difficult for me to write about. It's not engrossing in the way the title would suggest. It's actually better than that. Strangely, in the end, this book most reminds me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, one of my all time favs. It left me thinking through my personal trials and trying to decide if I had actually survived them or not. And it prompted me to think ahead. This guy has a very deep understanding of a very limited and interesting subject. If you're up for it, ...more
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Read in March, 2008
Not quite through with this one yet, and may never finish it. But hopping around it, some of the stories of survival were riveting...especially the one about the author's father. The guy was a fighter pilot in World War II and was shot out of the sky at 27,000 feet. His parachute failed...and survived the fall...say, what?
The author's attempt to construct a coherent, illuminating theory as to why some survive and some don't didn't seem to materialize...maybe I need to read more...
The author's attempt to construct a coherent, illuminating theory as to why some survive and some don't didn't seem to materialize...maybe I need to read more...
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Read in July, 2005
recommends it for:
anyone with an interest in survival.
Gonzalez takes the reader through a variety of stories that articulate the reasons why humans do not fare well in survival situations: fear and emotion. The book, though rehashing some old logic for those who have worked in survival situations before, does a good job of laying out the processes that result in not surviving. It is essentially a compilation of various true stories of survival situations, many unsuccessful, which are then broken down into "what went wrong" arguments.
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"We each create our own reality-- often consciously, but often without even being aware of it. Why do we sometimes act in ways that defy all logic? Why would a man on a snowmobile rush up the side of a mountain shortly after being warned of extreme avalanche danger?"
Whether in an extreme survival experience, or under the stress of everyday life, this book explores how we act and react to the real or perceived dangers in our lives.
Whether in an extreme survival experience, or under the stress of everyday life, this book explores how we act and react to the real or perceived dangers in our lives.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.88 (329 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.88 (322 ratings) number of reviews: 112popular shelves
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quote
"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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