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Book Summary and Reviews of Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Deep Survival

Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

by Laurence Gonzales

  • Published:
  • Oct 2003, 302 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

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

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

This information about Deep Survival was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Laurence Gonzales

Laurence Gonzales is the author of Surviving Survival, Flight 232, and the bestseller Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. He has won two National Magazine Awards and is a scholar at the Sante Fe Institute. He divides his time between Evanston, Illinois, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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