Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

by Laurence Gonzales

book data

840 ratings, 3.84 average rating, 260 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		26%
4		38%
3		27%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

October 30th 2004 (first published 2003) by W. W. Norton & Company

binding

Paperback, 318 pages

setting

Peru

isbn

0393326152 (isbn13: 9780393326154)

description

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or...more

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02/11/08

Amanda rated it:

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 ...more 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 fascinated from an early age about how someone like his father survived...and why. He himself obviously felt that if he could understand why his father was 'cool,' able to survive terrible things with spirit intact, that he would be able to do the same.
The science of stress, fear, panic, and risktaking are covered. He writes about why people make foolish choices that lead them into danger, what we can do to avoid those errors and why some systems have errors built into them so that eventually a disaster is going to happen.
The author loves high-risk, adrenalin-fueled pursuits. He's an acrobatic pilot and a motorcycle rider. He admires fighter pilots, mountain climbers, solo sailors and surfers. But he is able to stand back from that admiration and analyze the people and their activities and how they face dangerous situations.
I found this book fascinating. I learned a lot about the mindset that allows people to survive the worst, most life-threating situations. I hope never to be in one of those situations, but if I do maybe what I learned in this book will help.
I was struck that most (not all, but most) of the people he writes about, the thrill seekers, are men. I'm not a scientist, so I have no proof of this, but I have a theory that the reason women do less of these high adrenalin thrill activities is that there's something in our chemistry that keep us from wanting/needing to do them. In a grand evolutionary sense men are expendable. Once they've provided some sperm, they can go off and hunt the tiger, climb the mountain, drive the motorcycle across the desert at 150 mph. A woman has to carry the baby, give birth, feed it and raise it, teach it what it needs to know to survive. She's necessary for a long time, so if she has a high drive to take unnecesary risks it harms the future of the species.
Five stars - read it!
(less)

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04/27/08

Books Ring My Bell rated it:

bookshelves: sports

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: lovers of adventure

A fascinating story of what makes 2 people go into the same situation, one lives, one dies.

The author has an interest in survival as his father was gunned down in the war. His father survived when others perished. Gonzales became an adrenaline junkie, also flying planes, racing motorcyles and mountain climbing.

He covers it all, from wilderness misadventures people get themselves into (rafting, sailing, climbing and hiking) to disasters beyond our control (plane crashes,...more

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11/13/08

Andrew added it

Read in December, 2008

People who panic, die. People who get it together, live. There, i just saved you a bunch of time.

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

02/03/09

Mountaingoat rated it:

Read in February, 2009

I'm a big fan of 'true survival in the wilderness' tales, and having done my share of stupid and life-threatening things in the outdoors, I really enjoyed this examination of the 'theory' of accidents and what goes on in the brain in life-or-death situations and what separates the survivor from the statistic. Gonzales sprinkles the book with true stories of the lucky and the luckless (he readily admits that luck or its absence is not to be discounted in assessing (non-)survival, some of which ar...more

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01/17/09

Branden rated it:

Read in February, 2009

This was a very intriguing read that I really enjoyed. The title pretty much describes it, it's about survival and the author asks the question, why do some people survive certain situations while others succumb to death? He asks, if two people, of the same phyical health, same training are put into a life and death situation, what is it that will allow one of the two to survive while the other dies? The author searches for these answers by studying many cases of human survival and he shares the...more

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03/17/08

Toby rated it:

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...more

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02/28/08

Paige rated it:

Read in March, 2008

recommended to Paige by: dad
recommends 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 refer...more

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07/09/07

Diana Pauksta rated it:

bookshelves: apocalypse-now

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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02/16/09

Lori Tobias Christiansen rated it:

Read in July, 2006

A friend bought this book for my husband and he loved it so much, I had to read it. It's about surviving trouble in the outdoors, but it's a really a handbook for life in all situations. What I took from it, among many other things, is: keep an open mind, focus on living, look for opportunities, believe you will survive and that you are lost only if you believe you are lost. One very practical tip, when walking somewhere make a mental note of things at many turns. Some native cultures sing thems...more

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11/26/08

Lauren rated it:

Fast-paced and very interesting read about what goes through one's mind when faced with extreme survival situations. Includes a number of case studies about both people who live and people who die in such situations. Examines the mix of psychology, neurology and skill that determines if one survives or not. Although the context of the person is important (e.g. skill leading into situation, exposure to such situations), other factors (how one's brain is wired, attitudes) play a remarkably stro...more

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10/21/07

Denise rated it:

bookshelves: bodies-and-minds

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 folk...more

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02/04/08

Daniel rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Daniel by: My mother
recommends 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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02/13/09

Mike rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Awesome. Even if you dont like this book, find it interesting or an outdoorsman/adventure person, you must admire the author's writing skills, brilliant style and deep scientific research understanding in this book. I think it is a profound piece of work he should be very proud of. I was given this as a gift and enjoyed it much while suffering the pains of flu. How fitting of book to ponder on what seemed a low spot in time. Here are my summary thoughts of what I learned:

1. Stress ...more

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03/18/09

Mark rated it:

Read in March, 2009

An excellent study read on the possible neuroscience factors involved in survival. I emphasize possible only because well, let's face it, what we really know about the deep, inner workings of the human brain amounts to jack and shit, and jack left town.
If you take that into account though, it's a very enjoyable and enlightening book.

One thing that stands out most to me is Gonzales' deep understanding of "somatic memory"--the prevailing theory of how the subconscious s...more An excellent study read on the possible neuroscience factors involved in survival. I emphasize possible only because well, let's face it, what we really know about the deep, inner workings of the human brain amounts to jack and shit, and jack left town.
If you take that into account though, it's a very enjoyable and enlightening book.

One thing that stands out most to me is Gonzales' deep understanding of "somatic memory"--the prevailing theory of how the subconscious stores "slides" of events that have a deep emotional context (anger, sadness, love, happiness, high stress, etc) and upon recognizing a similar situation immediately "pops" the slide up and starts the body moving and reacting before you consciously know what's actually happening to you. The theory is a cornerstone for research into PTSD and certain social/anxiety disorders. It's also fundamental to a currently very popular theory among military, law enforcement, fire, and related circles about leadership under duress, called "Recognition-Primed Decision Making". That theory basically relies on the development of "slides" by seeing and experiencing events in a battle or law enforcement/fire call, for recall the next time a similar situation is encountered.
The issue there, as Gonzales himself points out, is that the subconscious cannot itself differentiate between the same scenario, and one very much like it but with some small but important difference. In that case, relying upon the subconscious emotion/fear "somatic" system, which says, "Well this is just like last time X happened, last time X happened, we did Y and it worked...so we'll try Y again," can lead to disastrous results.

I've seen a lot of people on here criticise Gonzales for "self-contradiction" because he spends the first hundred pages or so expounding on the subconscious "somatic memory" system, and most of the 2nd half of the book on rational cognition and its importance in survival and successfully handling stressful situations.
The thing is, as Gonzales himself stated many times throughout the book: emotion and cognition must work hand-in-hand to bring about a successful resolution to the situation. One without the other simply will NOT work. Emotion without reason's guidance leads to panic and rash acts that end in self-defeating behavior. Reason without emotion's "intuition" and drive leads to apathy and defeatism.
I suppose he could've more succinctly put it: reason/cognition, is the peanut butter, emotion the jelly. You can't make a PB&J sandwich without both, and you can't make a good PB&J without having them in the right proportion.
And that's what I learnt from this book.

Now back to you, LeVar...(less)

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03/15/09

John rated it:

bookshelves: flying, outdoors, psychology, travel

Read in March, 2009

When I first picked this up, I figured it was another survival techniques book, more like extreme Boy Scouts than anything else.

It isn't.

It's about managing oneself, one's mind, and one's spirit in survival situations. It includes an exploration of the different parts of the brain and how they are challenged in high stress circumstances and how they may cause one to make things worse.

At the same time, the book is not about hiding from risk. Quite the contrary...more

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02/03/09

fbuser1312802482 rated it:

Fascinating. For those with more of a scientific or theoretical mind this book is great. It brings order to the seeming chaos of accidents and makes one wonder "How would I react in that situation?", knowing that how ytou think you would act isn't necessarily how you'll act.

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04/18/09

Colin rated it:

(review of isbn 0393052761)

See I told you that Playboy has talented writers who produce excellent articles. Thankfully, Gonzales took time away and wrote this book.

This book represents what "adventure" books and stories should be. That means no crap from Stallone or Bruckheimer.

Deep Survival explains the science and philosophy behind what does and does not work in dire circumstances. He deftly switches from biochemical/brain reactions to harrowing tales of (non)survivors. Not only cou...more

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03/01/09

Jacob rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This was one of those books that was okay but could have been so much better. Mr. Gonzales is a pretty good writer and storyteller. Sometimes he is overly repetitive, but I suppose this can be understood in the context of his trying to make specific points. Those points relate to the title and he does a good job of sticking to that theme.

However, my first turn off was his psuedo-scientific attempt to sell his points. He makes postulations on why certain people survive and then ba...more This was one of those books that was okay but could have been so much better. Mr. Gonzales is a pretty good writer and storyteller. Sometimes he is overly repetitive, but I suppose this can be understood in the context of his trying to make specific points. Those points relate to the title and he does a good job of sticking to that theme.

However, my first turn off was his psuedo-scientific attempt to sell his points. He makes postulations on why certain people survive and then backs them up with some references to brain structure and how it functions, ego pumping anecdotal stories of things he has done, philosophical works, and conjecture. I imagine this is how an early text of phrenology reads. Or in modern day it is like talking to an old man, who gives you the "logic" of a point based on his experiences in a world of 50 years ago, non-contextual bible quotes, a scientific article he read once, and the commentary from a singularly opinionated broadcaster.

The next big turn-off was the need to wrap himself in the book. The author had no real survival experience yet he keeps relating things to himself. Likewise there are several sections where he talks about his time on an aircraft carrier and how jet fighter pilots function which to me was only marginally related to survival and seemed to be in there more for him to say that he had flown with pilots on a carrier.

Ultimately though, his points seemed reasonable in terms of how to survive a situation where you are stranded (on a mountain, at sea, what have you). And he admits that luck plays a big part in it too, which I think is important because even folks with the right internal wiring, pre-planning, and supplies still go down when the circumstances turn against them.

If the ego boosters and mumbo-jumbo could be stripped from this book it would have been really good. Mr. Gonzales is obviously well steeped in the recent history of survival situations and tells the stories pretty well. As it stands though I have to give this one 2 stars (probably really 2.5 but goodreads doesn't allow me that option). If you really like the outdoors and survival scenarios then pick it up, otherwise this is another one to leave on the shelf.(less)

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03/30/09

Adam rated it:

bookshelves: non-fiction, science

Read in April, 2009

recommends it for: Adventurers, Climbers, Thrill Seekers, Survival Experts, Rescue Technicians

This book is definitely cool if not for anything more than the exciting depictions of the harrowing events that are described throughout the chapters.

In exploring the art of survival, Laurence Gonzales sets his ideas against the backdrop of his own experiences, notably those of his fighterpilot father who was shot down during WWII. First, Gonzales shares a number of disaster stories, helping to eplain why the victims of these tragedies perished and how they might have survived. In ...more

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02/03/09

Will Gardner rated it:

I picked this up expecting it to be a bunch of near-death stories in the outdoors, which is exactly what I like to read when I relax.
This book is actually a much headier look at human psychology (as opposed to bear psychology, which I imagine is more straightforward).

Biggest takeaway: one of the first steps on the way to getting lost is "bending the map." This is when we start trying to deny often obvious aspects of the current reality that don't fit with our expectat...more

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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." More quotes...