Deep Survival

Here's my problem with survival, everyone dies sometime. No-one survives death, so what makes anyone a survivor ever? Surviving may just mean living long enough to tell others your story. If you don't leave a written record, did you live at all?

It turns out some people are just better at living longer in perilous situations and those skills can be translated from everyday life and back again. Here's the main point when in a bad situaton: don't panic. If you are panicking, don't move or act until you have calmed down. Also, don't be paralyzed by your panic. Be smart and you might survive.

I started reading Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales and wasn't hooked. I have recently read a few books involving survival; Into the Wild by John Krakauer, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and other Survivors by by Edward E. Leslie and Sterling Seagrave; (all worthwhile) so maybe I was kinda tired of surviving. I decided to give it another shot, opened to another, later chapter and was sucked in.

Gonzales provides anecdotes about survivors in many different situations, examining the issue from all sides, sprinkling in brain function and psychology and personal anecdotes. He laces it all together with his own quest for survival and his relationship with his father. All the time making frequent reference to the amygdala.

At the very least, Deep Survival was a nice break from Russia and Napoleon. I am going to try to get back to Mr. Tolstoy tonight or tomorrow.