Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales
I had high hopes for Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why but I was disappointed. After some interesting first chapters about what happens in a moment of crisis, it devolved into the usual survival cliches. You have to want it, never give up, believe in a higher power, do it for your loved ones, so on. There were no studies or tests to prove that those cliches are true and it’s insulting to all the people who have died to imply that they didn’t have loved ones or weren’t thinking of them.
The examples he cited were pointless. So one person dies eleven days into being lost in the woods and another person is rescued on day seven. What makes person two a survivor? Sounds like luck to me. But I guess it was the way he never gave up!!
Stupid book that doesn’t live up to its title. Don’t waste your time or money.