| Author |
Topic |
|
Too close to the city, BC
Canada
785 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 9:41 PM
|
I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to books*. I very rarely read fiction - mostly I read history and science books. I like well-researched facts, not hype and marketing and exaggeration. I gave up reading Outside magazine and its ilk years ago because the fluff was making me roll my eyes. The reason I mention this is because when I stumbled upon Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales, I was skeptical. I figured it would either be chest-thumping bravado or superficial tripe. But hey, I like books on survival psychology, so I had hope.
It's a good read. It's chock full of survival stories, and delves into survival philosophy, not survival techniques. Great writing regarding psychology of accident victims, how emotions overrun logic and reasoning, how your mental attitude can make you a survivor, not a victim. It talks about humility and humour as survival tools. It touches upon the famous survival stories of Joe Simpson, Juliane Koepcke, Steven Callahan. It dissects a mountaineering accident on Mount Hood. It doesn't just talk about wilderness survival - it talks about people with terminal illness, people at the World Trade Center, pilots trying to land on aircraft carriers. It explores what actually happens to your body in an emergency situation and why you react the way you do. Why people are sometimes found dead next to their unopened survival kits, and why little kids are often found alive in the woods when older kids and adults are not.
I was entertained, but more importantly I learned something, and that's why I read this book.
I know I've enjoyed a book when I'm sad when it's over.
http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393052761
http://www.deepsurvival.com/
*Okay, I'm a geek in general. Shhhhh.  |
|
 canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6784 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2012 : 9:52 PM
|
Never been into reading much, mostly instructional Tech stuff,outdoor and non outdoors,if anything..something like this could be worth getting into.
Body and mind scenarious are interesting, often astonishing. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Deep Survival
