When I was three weeks postpartum after giving birth to my first child (and arguably the most emotional/hormonal I've ever been), I remember sitting glued to the TV, holding my baby, wide-eyed with amazement and weepy with gratitude as I watched every single last Chilean miner pulled one by one from the cave they had been trapped in for more than two months.
Now, 12 years later, my son has become obsessed with the story of Sully and the "Miracle on the Hudson." He also voraciously laps up the I Survived series. Maybe it runs in the family? We both seem to be drawn to stories that have you on the edge of your seat but then turn your dread into wonder and hope when people—often by coming together—beat seemingly insurmountable odds.
The selection below honors amazing true stories (save for three, which are fiction) of those who displayed heroism and courage in the face of despair, and demonstrated the best of the human spirit. Is it any wonder that these are the stories we revisit again and again in audio, documentary, and film?
Not only did the 33 men trapped in the 2010 Copiapó mining accident work as a team to ensure their miraculous survival—they also decided to collectively contract a writer to tell their authorized story so that none of them could individually profit off of the experience at the expense of the others. Héctor Tobar was that writer, and his resulting work is a masterpiece of narrative journalism that takes you deep into the hearts and fears of the survivors, and which drew major critical acclaim and was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
When Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger managed to successfully land his disabled plane on the Hudson River in 2009, saving everyone aboard, it was the news that made New York's (and the world's) heart soar. The city was still reeling from the tragedy of 9/11 and was mired in the Great Recession, but when "Sully" pulled off an unprecedented water ditching, we were reminded that anything was possible.
Of all the stories on this list, this one may be the most mind-blowing. 438 Days is the story of Salvador Alvarenga, a Mexican man who left on his small boat for a two-day fishing trip, only to be blown so far off course that he nearly crossed the entire Pacific, finally washing up in the Marshall Islands. Through dozens of exclusive interviews, journalist Jonathan Franklin unfolds a voyage so epic it could rival The Odyssey.
There are several accounts of the incredible rescue of the 13 boys (all members of a soccer team) who were trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018, but this is probably my favorite. Geared for young listeners and their families, All Thirteen explains the scientific and geological issues at play in a way that is engaging and easy to understand, while examining the mental hurdles the young men faced. Author Christina Soontornvat also brings an on-the-ground aspect to her reporting—she was visiting family in Thailand as this story unfolded!
Perhaps one of the most remarkable survival stories of all time, especially given the limited technology available in 1914, Endurance recounts Ernest Shackleton’s dogged determination to rescue his entire Arctic crew, stranded for more than a year on ice floes near the South Pole. Simon Prebble's weighty voice delivers the needed gravitas to this enthralling true tale.
Hearing Aron Ralston recount his harrowing tale of survival will stop you in your tracks. He takes you inside the canyon with him, and draws you into that moment when he realized his options for survival had dwindled to an awful, unbelievable, single one.
Originally published in 1994 as Lost Moon, this book served as the basis for the award-winning film. But Captain Jim Lovell's firsthand account (written in partnership with journalist Jeffrey Kluger) of the Apollo 13 space mission takes you beyond the movie, exploring and honoring even the smallest moments of heroism displayed by everyone involved in bringing the astronauts home safely.
Mark Watney is who we all hope we'd be (no matter how unlikely that definitely is) were we to find ourselves stranded on an alien planet—a resourceful MacGyver of science who works The Problem. And the team back on Earth and in the departing ship are exactly who we'd want fighting on our side.
Though I haven't had a full listen to this one yet, I had to include it as a modern re-imagining of one of the earliest biblical survival stories—Jonah and the whale. In a risky journey undertaken to find connection with the memory of his father, a deep sea diver finds himself in the first stomach of a sperm whale, swallowed whole. With limited oxygen in his tank, this journey into the belly of a whale transforms into a meditative journey into his own heart and the grief he finds within.
One final pitch for a survival-in-space story. (Are we subconsciously trying to tell ourselves it will all be ok when humans migrates out to the stars? Maybe.) I'll be honest about this one: LOTS of people die in this series. In fact, the authors named several of the deaths after their fellow author buddies so look out for those Easter eggs. But the core crew of six is essentially on a trilogy-length rescue mission and it's just so immersive and fascinating how it all comes together. And they are a badass bunch who will make you cheer.
