Recommended by a facilities dude from work. Fascinating. Tells of individual and group responses to disasters. The parts about individual brain activity are surprising. We can predict the likelihood of PTSD, of success as a marine. We can measure physiological responses. We can codify the behavior: freezing, gathering (of things and other people). The tendency to call other people to verify that it's an emergency, the tendency to not move if others don't, the lack of trust in the unknown, the uncharted waters: these are no longer evolutionarily good things for us. At least, not in large disasters. From a personal perspective, how do I plan for disasters? How does one train a group of work mates? The fact is, when I'm in a disaster (and it's likely going to be a "when"), everything will depend on the people I'm around, not the trained professionals. Scary as well as fascinating. When I was in Chicago, I found myself analyzing the escape routes posted in my 17th floor room, and noticed that, while they told me to count the doors between my room and the stairwell, they didn't say WHY. Because I won't be able to see a darn thing if there's a fire, that's why. I told Emily about this in a crowded elevator ride and held the rest of the car spellbound.

Each chapter takes a specific disaster to illustrate individual or group behavior, which makes for fascinating reading. I would have liked an appendix with an individual training program, but it does provide the website. I checked out the link to the security guard who predicted the 9/11 attack: the video is still there and still chilling.