From Publishers Weekly
When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic, says Gonzales in this exploration of what makes the remaining 10% stay cool, focused and alive. Gonzales (The Hero's Apprentice; The Still Point), who has covered survival stories for National Geographic Explorer, Outside and Men's Journal, uncovers the biological and psychological reasons people risk their lives and why some are better at it than others. In the first part of the book, the author talks to dozens of thrill-seekers-mountain climbers, sailors, jet pilots-and they all say the same thing: danger is a great rush. "Fear can be fun," Gonzales writes. "It can make you feel more alive, because it is an integral part of saving your own life." Pinpointing why and how those 10% survive is another story. "They are the ones who can perceive their situation clearly; they can plan and take correct action," Gonzales explains. Survivors, whether they're jet pilots landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier or boatbuilders adrift on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, share certain traits: training, experience, stoicism and a capacity for their logical neocortex (the brain's thinking part) to override the primitive amygdala portion of their brains. Although there's no surefire way to become a survivor, Gonzales does share some rules for adventure gleaned from the survivors themselves: stay calm, be decisive and don't give up. Remembering these rules when crisis strikes may be tough, but Gonzales's vivid descriptions of life in the balance will stay with readers. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
What impels people to risk their lives by climbing mountains or deep-sea diving? What confluence of forces leads to drastic accidents? Why do some people survive disasters while others perish? A renowned journalist intrigued with risk, Gonzales conducts an in-depth and engrossing inquiry into the dynamics of survival. Relating one hair-raising true story after another about wilderness adventures gone catastrophically wrong and other calamities, Gonzales draws on sources as diverse and compelling as the Stoic philosophers and neuroscience to elucidate the psychological, physiological, and spiritual strengths that enable certain individuals to avoid fatal panic and make that crucial "transition from victim to survivor." People who survive being lost or adrift at sea, for instance, pay close attention to their surroundings and respect the wild. Gonzales also notes that survivors think of others, either helping a fellow sufferer or rallying to outsmart death in order to spare loved ones anguish. The study of survival offers an illuminating portal into the human psyche, and Gonzales, knowledgeable and passionate, is a compelling and trustworthy guide. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Jeff Randall, Peruvian Air Force School of Jungle Survival
Should be required reading for anyone venturing off the beaten path.


Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Enough
A fascinating look into why we are who we are.


Charles Perrow, author of Normal Accidents
A feast of excitement and wonder. Makes complexity and chaos come alive...fantastic accounts of danger and death.


Kirkus Reviews
A superb, entertaining addition to a nature buff's library—or for anyone not tucked safely away in a bunker.


Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
[Gonzales's] science is accurate, accessible, up-to-date and insightful. An extremely good book.


Jed Williamson, editor, Accidents in North American Mountaineering
Gonzales takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride that ends with rules of survival we can all stand to learn.


David Roberts, author of True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent on Annapurna
Remarkable, unique, and compulsively readable.


Jacki Golike, Executive Director, National Association for Search and Rescue
Professional rescuers will love this book. Gonzales tells us what we subconsciously know—anything is possible.


Daryl Miller, Chief of Mountaineering, Denali National Park & Preserve
Deep Survival is by far the best book on the many insights into epic survival stories I have ever read.


Jerry Kobalenko, author of The Horizontal Everest: Extreme Journeys on Ellesmere Island
A gripping and thoughtful investigation of the greatest adventure of all—survival.


Book Description
"Unique among survival books...stunning...enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading."—Penelope Purdy, Denver Post After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven 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—how people get into trouble and how they get out again (or not)—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 "stages of survival" and reveals the essence of a survivor—truths that apply not only to surviving in the wild but also to surviving life-threatening illness, relationships, the death of a loved one, running a business during uncertain times, even war. Fascinating for any reader, and absolutely essential for anyone who takes a hike in the woods, this book will change the way we understand ourselves and the great outdoors.


About the Author
Award-winning author Laurence Gonzales is contributing editor at National Geographic Adventure. He has written for Outside, Harpers, Men's Journal, and Playboy, among other magazines. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales pulls readers to the boundary region between life and death, where they peer into the hearts, minds, and souls of those who have survived seemingly impossible situations and those who have given in to death. Through careful dissection of case studies, he illuminates the essence of the true survivor - the internal battles that are waged between fear and hope, reason and emotion, despair and correct action.

He shows how all survivors go through the same psychological transformation and make the same spiritual journey, and he explains the mysterious events and surprising outcomes that occur when humans are pushed into a territory that, until now, only survivors could comprehend.

This narrative is the first book to describe the science of survival, revealing through new psychological and neurological research the workings of the brain that motivate our actions. Unconscious responses to everything from events in daily life to dire emergencies are driven by primal regions of the brain: those that support the survival of the species, but not always the individual.

Applying the science of chaos theory and self-organizing systems, Gonzales shows how accidents are not random acts of God but highly organized outcomes of complex systems, repeated with inevitable frequency. You can't stop them from happening, but this book can help prevent them from happening to you.

Deep Survival is not going to teach you how to build a fire or find water, but you will be far better prepared to survive any challenge you face. The principles Gonzales uncovers are universal, applying not only to survival in the wild but also to survival in relationships, in the death ofa loved one, in running a business during uncertain times, even in war.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic, says Gonzales in this exploration of what makes the remaining 10% stay cool, focused and alive. Gonzales (The Hero's Apprentice; The Still Point), who has covered survival stories for National Geographic Explorer, Outside and Men's Journal, uncovers the biological and psychological reasons people risk their lives and why some are better at it than others. In the first part of the book, the author talks to dozens of thrill-seekers-mountain climbers, sailors, jet pilots-and they all say the same thing: danger is a great rush. "Fear can be fun," Gonzales writes. "It can make you feel more alive, because it is an integral part of saving your own life." Pinpointing why and how those 10% survive is another story. "They are the ones who can perceive their situation clearly; they can plan and take correct action," Gonzales explains. Survivors, whether they're jet pilots landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier or boatbuilders adrift on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, share certain traits: training, experience, stoicism and a capacity for their logical neocortex (the brain's thinking part) to override the primitive amygdala portion of their brains. Although there's no surefire way to become a survivor, Gonzales does share some rules for adventure gleaned from the survivors themselves: stay calm, be decisive and don't give up. Remembering these rules when crisis strikes may be tough, but Gonzales's vivid descriptions of life in the balance will stay with readers. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews