Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why [NOOK Book]

Good book

I read this book because it was on the www.personalmba.com reading list. I went into with an open mind, and I was ready to see how surviving traumatic events were linked to everyday life; well, I wasn't disappointed.

* Control your fear by laughing/smiling/making fun at it, and be cool. This actually works. I used it in a meeting and a confrontation on the subway. The be cool mantra rings in my head and it works.
* Plans don't always work; rely more on emotional response. I have found myself stuck on a plan and explaining away obvious cues and issues. I can acknowledge it now, and I have even found myself thinking - am I explaining this away?
* It's ok to resign into a situation but not give up. It's true you come full circle. The "is what it is" mentality has pulled me through difficult times.

There are many other points; not all equally valuable (at least to me). It's a good read; so, enjoy.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Survival Requires Positive Mental Attitude

This book is among my top 3 Survival Books. The real-life stories are gripping alone but the book is threaded together with strong common themes and the author has great psychological insight. This book would appeal to both "Left Brain" logical analytical types like me who always have to disect the parts and create "mental maps". It would also appeal to the "Right Brain" intuitive perceptive creative "big picture" types - people who naturally perceive their surroundings. Each chapter stands alone yet refers back to repeating themes of WHO survives. It is the humble person. It is the decisive person. It is the spiritual person. People in real life are faced with incredible extreme survival situations and I've always been intrigued with the human qualities that give them the focus and drive to survive. I love to hike and have always said the mind can be your best friend or worst enemy. Like "Into The Wild" or "Into Thin Air", the surviver must never underestimate the power of nature and the surviver must know you don't have to BE strong, you just have to FEEL strong! I didn't want this book to end. - Laura

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Not just for the weekend warrior

Deep Survival is gripping, not only because of Gonzales's tales of death and survival but because of the brain science he presents, simplified to apply to everyone. He humbles the elite outdoor sportsman, the weekend warriors, and the average person by causing personal reflection and insight into your own survival skills.

Gonzales reveals ways to discern your inner voice of reason from the struggle with emotion during a survival situation. He explains how a survivor's brain works both for and against them and how they need the voice of reason to be the loudest voice they hear. He also discusses how prior training and experience can help you save your own life, or contribute to losing it.

This book should be taught in every high school to provide teens with a hunger for exploring their world balanced with ways to prepare for the unexpected survival moments we all inevitably encounter.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Interesting but can be dry and technical at times.

This book has some interesting stories, but the author interrupts them with pages of technical discussion that are often peripheral to true understanding; there's a lot of discussion of psychology and neurochemistry that don't illuminate the subject.

Brag Book

This book is mostly bragging by the author. What a waste of time. His basic theory is that accidents are going to happen.

When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people

When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic this book is about what the remaining 10% do to survive and thrive. It is written by Laurence Gonzoles, who has written for national geographic and other nature magazines. His writing style is a bit jumpy and confusing at times, but that is also what makes it a fun read. He uses a lot of imagery and first hand knowledge to seem like he really knows what he is talking about.
Deep Survival goes through many real life scenario which entail survival themes. From snowmobilers in the backcountry, to hikers on mount hood. Almost every type of survival is talked about in depth. The major theme throught the entire book is that those with the will to survive will survive, it doesnt matter the tools at your disposal. Another message in the book is that all training you have will go out the window when your running on pure adrenalin; once that fight of flight response is engaged, those are your only two options. This is not your normal survival handbook that tells you what you need to know, the only message that this one tells you to bring out into the woods to survive is that you must want to survive.
What I liked most about this book is his seemingly experienced attitude, like he knew what he was talking about. This really made the book believable and a true non-fiction experience. This I didn’t really enjoy about this book were the jumpy ramblings not having todo with survival, or his oh so canny way of relating everything back to his grandfather. We get it bro, your grandfather is your hero, he doesn’t need to be in every paragraph although. I also didnt like how long this book was for the message it was getting at; it didnt need all 15 chapters, it could have gotten away with just 5. In the end I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars for the messages and evidence it had, this could have been 4 stars if it was just presented in a better way.

Great Book

I enjoyed reading this book. As an outdoorsman, I found some interesting insight into why some people make life ending decisions and others don't. There's also a lot of insight that can be gleaned from human nature and behavior.

Well written.

Who Survives and Who Is . . . Well, Dead.

This book attempts to parse out what makes one person a survivalist and another person, well, dead. From attitude to preparation Laurence Gonzales uses a mix of stories and personal experience to support his theories on what makes a good survivalist. Some of his conclusions are a little contradictory but every story and analysis is interesting and entertaining. Great read prior to engaging in any high risk activity.

NOT WHAT I THOUGHT!

Was un-happy with book. Was hoping for more stories on survival. This reads like a Medical Book. I do not care what part of the brain is working and why. Just give me the true stories and stop trying to impress the medical world with your findings.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Illuminating discussion of risk taking and survivor behavior

I found this a fascinating explanation of risk takers and why some people survive impossible situations.

A great read. awesome for anyone...especially those who love the outdoors.

This book is excellent. It is a quick read that is a lot of fun. Very well written. Facts portrayed in a very intriguing way, makes you want to keep reading. Makes the reader think twice before planning next hiking/backpacking/outdoor trip.

Not particularly enlightening

Not the fascinating stuff of Jon Krakauer, but had some interesting vignettes. Seemed a little repetitive in its themes: you die in the wilderness because you are A) foolishly unprepared (ever hear of a compass?), B) foolishly overconfident (ever hear "pride goeth before a fall"?), or C) foolishly in denial of the obvious (ever break the park rules and light a fire to keep from freezing?). The author humbly admits to his own share of all three. He does delve into the structure of the brain and how it might cause lapses in rational judgement in these extreme environments. But even so, the most interesting stories of disaster are the ones common sense could have avoided. The most interesting stories of survival are mostly due to luck -- bumping into a life guard before swimming out into enticing but treacherous waters, not breaking a leg in the plane crash so you CAN walk out of the Amazon, arbitrarily picking the right fork in the road leading to the last boat out at the last minute before the ice storm. Not a bad read, funny at times, but not the insightful, edge of your seat read I was hoping for.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Everyone I recommended it to loves it

I thought this was a great book that kept my attention by having many stories. Everyone that I have recommended the book to has loved it. I have a certain shelf on my book case for the books I recommend and this made it to that shelf.

fascinating and compelling book

I picked this up to browse while having a cup of coffee, not intending to buy it. But I was immediately hooked and ended up buying copies for myself, my son, and my son-in-law, who all loved it, too.

Lessons for Management

While writing a human resources / management book, I realized that many of my references did not come from the world of business but rather from diverse subject matters. Nothing in my large stack of reference material was more useful than Laurence Gonzales's book on survival.

I greatly appreciated the writing style and the pace had me finishing the book in two settings. More importantly, I was so very glad to find that the lessons in this `survival' book could be readily applied to the business arena.

The lessons in this book: be calm, be decisive and never give up, were massaged and incorporated in my work. Together with surveys provided by our military leadership in Iraq, I was able to develop a guide for management in not only how to survive but thrive in a hostile environment.

I highly recommend this book to business leaders that truly want the best for their organizations and themselves. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR

A Great Book

It was interesting to me to read the other reviews here - clearly, there are two ways to approach this book - one for the great stories, the other for the mindset of the people in the stories. Personally, I found the first part of the book the most compelling - the conversation about how our minds work. The idea of a plan as a 'memory of the future' is a line that sticks with me. In my work as an NLP practitioner I know that we create pictures and stories in our minds that determine what our experience of the world will be. After a dramatic experience, we decide (unconsciously) what that experience means to us. We translate each decision into behavior, without even realizing it. And our behavior determines our final outcome. In our regular lives, it may be whether we get the new job, or whether we succeed or fail in a relationship. Taken to the edge, it means do we live or do we die? This book offers outstanding, compelling and edge-of-the-seat (or the glacier) suspenseful accounts of how our lifetime accumulation of unconscious decisions make that determination. Current neuroscience and quantum physics give us tools to identify and then change our internal, unconscious decisions, specifically and rapidly. This book is a very important piece of personal leverage - it is a doorway into understanding the ultimate consequences of whether we choose to bring our decisions to the conscious level and set ourselves up for DEEP Survival.

Great Source

There was much meandering thought by the author throughout 'especially in the early part of the book' however the author's concepts were clarified as he relayed the various stories and tied them into his analysis. I had also read or heard about many of the stories relayed in the book however, many of the stories were new to me and this proved an excellent source for additional future reading. I will say the book was better the further I read and the stories 'although some I had heard before' kept it interesting. The conclusion brought many of the early concepts to closure and it was a compelling read near the end. The best part was the introduction to the survival stories that were new to me. Much of the time it is difficult to find new material.

The most important skills

I've done plenty of camping and hiking in some rather bad conditions. Any outdoorsman can tell you about the skills required to stay alive when the unexpected happens. But sometimes, physical conditioning and survival training just does not seem adequate. But Deep Survival reveals the most important and essential survival skills, often not found in survival manuals. Yes, phychology often determines 'who lives and who dies' and this book goes a long way to plug the gaping hole in survival manuals.

Must-read if you have ever put your life on the line

First of all, this is a very readable book -- I devoured it in no time flat. The premise is intriguing, and I really related to a lot of the anecdotes and examples. Some of them are jaw-dropping. Five people in a life raft: three die, two survive. Why these two? Although the book does not completely answer this question, it does bring up quite a bit of material. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who has ever risked their life in search of truth or beauty.

Where is your focus

I just finished reading this book before being burned over 40% of my body. As I recovered in UC Davis burn unit many of the concept of Deep Survival became clear choices. I had never been that close to death and the need to focus all my energy on getting better instead of feeling sorry for myself. Already an experienced survivor this book is much like writing out a budjet for funding all your life forces into making it through. Very clear choices to live or give up and die.