Deep Survival

True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death

By: Laurence Gonzales

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

After her plane crashes, a 17-year-old girl spends 11 days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the difference?

Examining such stories of miraculous endurance and tragic death, Deep Survival takes us from the tops of snowy mountains and the depths of oceans to the workings of the brain that control our behavior. Through close analysis of case studies, Laurence Gonzales describes the essence of a survivor and offers 12 "Rules of Survival".

In the end, he finds, it is what's in your heart, not what's in your pack, that separates the living from the dead. This audiobook will change the way we understand ourselves and the great outdoors.

©2003 Laurence Gonzales (P)2006 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The study of survival offers an illuminating portal into the human psyche, and Gonzales, knowledgeable and passionate, is a compelling and trustworthy guide." (Booklist)
"A superb, entertaining addition to a nature buff's library, or for anyone not tucked safely away in a bunker." (Kirkus Reviews)

Interesting

New concepts to me. I enjoyed the brief examples used and the way in which stories were told.

Great Survival Book

This book gets into the physical reasons that people make the decision they do under supreme stress and what causes accidents that follow the same pattern year after year. How that decisions that at first glance make no sense keep getting repeated time and again by others., as well as how to minimize the likely hood of this happening to you. Highly recommended.

Outstanding!

This was not what I was looking for but I stayed for the whole thing. A truly great piece of work.

Not what I expected.

I was looking for your typical survival story. Instead I found the story which is about many people and how and why they survive. I would not have thought this would interest me however it interest me a great deal. The author demonstrates through a multitude of stories how people who survive or people that succeed for that matter have many things in common. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

A Deeply Satisfying Read

Tales of survival generally have a familiar trajectory. They are gripping stories that hold your attention even when you have already guessed the outcome and even if you have heard an account of a particular event before.
This book adds a remarkable layer of insight ranging from philosophy, neuroscience, behavioral psychology, physiology, religion, and the relationship of father and son.

The author adeptly gleans knowledge from a wide number of sources including personal experience mixes it with real life accounts of harrowing survival and makes the whole thing work. I can’t say that listening to this book will allow me to survive a catastrophic event but hopefully if I find myself in such a situation I won’t be the character that the audience knows is going to die from the very beginning of the movie.

The narration is pleasant and well paced. I definitely recommend this book.

loved it!

I loved this read and learned a lot in a kind "already" knew kind of way. This book articulated deep thoughts in my lizard brain. I'll probably listen again.

Deep Survival is a book for everyone

loved it. story and narrator was great..his voice was impactful in me wanting to listen more

Should be mandatory reading for most of us

Sadly out anorexic English language is way short on adjectives to describe the value of this book. Is a 2X or 3X read.
You may wish you had read this much earlier.

Solid

I was worried that this would be some vague sermon about "grit" or whatever, but it's way more interesting. He talks about such things as Rational decisions verse Instinctive emotion, mental fallacies in dangerous situations (such as the desperate urge to keep moving forward when you're lost), and, yes, the importance of having a good outlook in bad situations.

The book is very good at balancing hard science and personal inferences/experience. It's not a dry survival checklist, cautious to the point of being dull (I once took a college class on Wilderness Medicine and the only thing they told us for every injury/complication discussed was to leave the wilderness and go to the hospital), and it's not some "inspirational" rambling about Willpower and Perseverance.

Overall, this is a book about neuroscience and psychology in dangerous or stressful situations, and it's definitely worth a listen.

Must read!!!

A primer for life. The events recounted in this book are of survival in vast wildernesses and death defying circumstances. The author’s analysis of the collection of events illustrates to the reader a lexicon of mental and spiritual skills that can help people survive. This is a book to revisit multiple times. It is the number one book I want my kids to read before they leave high school.