I had just finished my torturously difficult to write review of Skeletons on the Zahara, and was feeling mildly embarrassed about my gross out first paragraph. So I flipped on the tube and found Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern Survival Special. Hah! I love multi-media studies! I hope he eats something really awful.
I'm not sure two days in the jungle is quite hard core enough to compete with what I've been reading though. Sorry Mr. Zimmern.
Showing posts with label survival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survival. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Surviving, again
Although the subtitle to Skeletons on the Zahara is "A True Story of Survival" I didn't realize that this would be yet another survival book. Duh. This is kind of the ultimate survivor book in which you learn that it is apparently okay to drink urine. Your own, your shipmate's, a camel's, whatever. You can also drink the green liquid in a camel's stomach, and eat the contents of the small intestine. If you are hungry, snails are delicious, as are locusts; just pull off their heads and legs first.
I can't wait to go on vacation to the Sahara!
Dean King endeavors to update Captain James Riley's 1816 memoir, introducing a story familiar to almost every 19th century American to a modern audience. Once I got past the detailed recounting of the ill-fated ocean voyage, things sped up. I was mostly interested in the gruesome horror the crew faced once the ship was dashed against rocks. As a historical narrative, Skeletons on the Zahara has a distracting number of characters, dates, and locations. I blithely ignored the maps, place names and names of many characters, preferring to focus on the action rather than get bogged down in the details.
Other than a fine Sunday's entertainment, I got two main things out of this book; one a very thought provoking look at Nomads in northwestern Africa and a lesson in heroism from James Riley.
King did plenty of his own research for this book, as shown in his extensive bibliography. He even took a trek in the Sahara on a camel, trying to recreate some of what the castaways went through. The life of the desert nomads was amazingly brutal, many of them subsisting on camel milk and small amounts of foraged food. Perhaps in reaction to the extreme climate, the culture is correspondingly wild and rough, with a strongest take all mind set. Despite the harshness of the society Captain Riley and his crew encounter admirable bravery and honor from a few of the nomads they encounter.
Captain Riley is a great character. He carefully observes the people around him and is able to judge situations cannily and modifying his behavior in turn. At times, dangerously standing up for his men, or being meek and humble as the situation requires. It seems that most Western castaways had little hope of returning home when they landed on the West Coast of Africa and Captain Riley was a rare example of a hero, getting at least half of his crew home again.
Edited to add: This book is packed full of fun extras, including a glossary, index, bibliography, suggested reading, and more!
I can't wait to go on vacation to the Sahara!
Dean King endeavors to update Captain James Riley's 1816 memoir, introducing a story familiar to almost every 19th century American to a modern audience. Once I got past the detailed recounting of the ill-fated ocean voyage, things sped up. I was mostly interested in the gruesome horror the crew faced once the ship was dashed against rocks. As a historical narrative, Skeletons on the Zahara has a distracting number of characters, dates, and locations. I blithely ignored the maps, place names and names of many characters, preferring to focus on the action rather than get bogged down in the details.
Other than a fine Sunday's entertainment, I got two main things out of this book; one a very thought provoking look at Nomads in northwestern Africa and a lesson in heroism from James Riley.
King did plenty of his own research for this book, as shown in his extensive bibliography. He even took a trek in the Sahara on a camel, trying to recreate some of what the castaways went through. The life of the desert nomads was amazingly brutal, many of them subsisting on camel milk and small amounts of foraged food. Perhaps in reaction to the extreme climate, the culture is correspondingly wild and rough, with a strongest take all mind set. Despite the harshness of the society Captain Riley and his crew encounter admirable bravery and honor from a few of the nomads they encounter.
Captain Riley is a great character. He carefully observes the people around him and is able to judge situations cannily and modifying his behavior in turn. At times, dangerously standing up for his men, or being meek and humble as the situation requires. It seems that most Western castaways had little hope of returning home when they landed on the West Coast of Africa and Captain Riley was a rare example of a hero, getting at least half of his crew home again.
Edited to add: This book is packed full of fun extras, including a glossary, index, bibliography, suggested reading, and more!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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.
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.
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