Deep Survival

I just bought a book entitled Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. It's pretty interesting.

Here's a couple of quotes:

One of the things that kills us in the wilderness, in nature, is that we just don't understand the forces we engage. We don't understand the energy because we no longer have to live with it.

Most of us sleep through the test. We get in and out and never know what might have been demanded. Such an experience can make us even more vulnerable, for we come away with the illusion of growing hardy, salty, knowledgeable. Been there, done that.
...

It leaves no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.

I recall that we discussed this book in a previous thread, but I can't find it.

It has been a while since I read the book, but my recollection is:
* Some useful info.
* IMO, he could have said what needed to be said in about 1/3 the space.
* He is facinated by chaos theory, but clearly doesn't know anything about it.

Doug

I found the individual stories very interesting and it made a good read. The only thing I found useful was that survivors made it through their ordeal with the mindset that failure was not an option. I found many of Gonzales discussions vague and wondered myself if he really knew what he was talking about.

good read

neil,
so far so good. thanks to gooly for lending it to me after he finished it!!
some pretty interesting stuff going on. great to read how others would handle a situation and makes you wonder what you would do in similar situations. pretty face paced so its keeping me interested (which isnt always easy with books)!

oh yeah, anyone read any of his other works?

As is usually the case with non-fiction where the author has one basic point to make the book (not to be confused with how-to books) is about 3x longer than necessary. I find this to be the case most of the time whether it's the Selfish Gene, Nanotech, or climate change.

Nevertheless, speeding through the book, I have found some good nuggets and had my thoughts provoked when they wouldn't have been.

With a title like that I was hoping to read deep analyses of stories à la Joe Simpson. The question, why do some survive in a crisis while others die is a very worthwhile one to delve into.

As for getting into a crisis in the first place two important factors (among many) are group momentum and everyone relying on everyone else for leadership.

Try Here
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4972&highlight=boomhower
Unfortunately - When he started writing for Nat Geo, the link to the article, which I had in the start of the thread was dismantled (which was awesome)

There was also some discussion (IIRC) on this thread as well, (or it may have been over at ADKforums that we discussed Boomhower and Lost!)
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5145&highlight=boomhower

Rick

DougPaul said:

I recall that we discussed this book in a previous thread, but I can't find it.

It has been a while since I read the book, but my recollection is:
* Some useful info.
* IMO, he could have said what needed to be said in about 1/3 the space.
* He is facinated by chaos theory, but clearly doesn't know anything about it.

Doug

Click to expand...

Rick said:

Try Here
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4972&highlight=boomhower
Unfortunately - When he started writing for Nat Geo, the link to the article, which I had in the start of the thread was dismantled (which was awesome)

There was also some discussion (IIRC) on this thread as well, (or it may have been over at ADKforums that we discussed Boomhower and Lost!)
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5145&highlight=boomhower

Rick

Click to expand...

Rick,

Thanks for looking. While those threads are on subject, they they don't include the one I was thinking of. (I distinctly remember some of my comments in the thread and they aren't there.) The thread in question had quite a bit of discussion of the book itself.

However, one of the threads gave the url to the online version and I was able to find my copy once I knew what filename to look for. IIRC, the file was a subset of the book (perhaps an early draft).

Doug

DougPaul said:

I recall that we discussed this book in a previous thread, but I can't find it.

Click to expand...

Doug - There was some discussion of that book here. Was this the one you had in mind?

Kevin Rooney said:

Doug - There was some discussion of that book here. Was this the one you had in mind?

Click to expand...

Kevin,

Thanks--no. I found that one in my searches.

I spent a while (more time than it was really worth...) searching with both the internal search and Google advanced search. I'm pretty sure the thread is no longer on the bbs.

Doug

Strange, there is a CNN article about survival with comments from the author of Deep Survival:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/08/survive/index.html

Jay