Екстремно оцеляване: Уроци от хора, излезли победители въпреки всичко

by Michael J. Tougias, Майкъл Тогис, Венцислав Божилов (Translator)

Уроци от хора, излезли победители въпреки всичко

Запознайте се с историите и причините за предизвиканите от хора катастрофи. За да отговори на въпроса защо се случват катастрофи и как някои оцеляват, Тогис разговаря с над сто души, оцелели напук на всички шансове, като първо описва страшните им истории, след което обсъжда подробно уроците от тях. „Екстремно оцеляване“ е забавно и изключително подробно проучване. Разберете издръжливостта чрез мислената нагласа на оцеляващите. Оцеляването изисква техники, които да се използват в правилния момент. Научете на какво е способен човек при екстремно напрежение и пред лицето на неминуема катастрофа.

На страниците на книгата ще откриете:

Завладяващи истории за оцеляване, разказани в типичния за Тогис стил;
Анализ на големи предизвикани от човека катастрофи и погрешните решения, довели до тях;
Разкази от първо лице и подробни тактики за оцеляване, които можем да използваме в ежедневието.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

240 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Adventure is the theme that runs through most of my books, from outdoors titles (The Connecticut River from Source to Sea, Exploring the Hidden Charles) to fiction (Until I Have No Country) to nonfiction sea rescues (Overboard! A Storm Too Soon, Rescue of the Bounty).
One of my current adventures is waiting to see if Disney will begin filming a movie-length version of the Coast Guard rescue book The Finest Hours. Another adventure for me is publishing a funny family memoir with my daughter, called The Cringe Chronicles (Mortifying Misadventures with my Dad).
My friends have been asking if I'll write a sequel to There's a Porcupine in my Outhouse (2003 Outdoor Book of the Year) but I think they just want me to revise their characters so they don't look so dumb!

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Brad consciously tried to direct his thoughts away from what was out of his control, and instead be alert for an opportunity or an idea that he could consider and take action on. The very act of doing something helped keep him from dwelling on all the many depravations and pain. In essence, he was clinging to the one thing he could control and that was his reaction to what was happening to him.”

“The message for all of us is to take those little steps that might seem insignificant when you feel helpless and string a few actions together. Before you know it, you have advanced toward your objective.”

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I have always been a huge fan of Michael J. Tougias's disaster/survival books (and those with whom he's worked as a co-writer), this one doesn't match up to most of his other books. The author's sections devoted to a kind of "self-help" instruction on the best traits for surviving terrible odds and disasters are rather long and, often, repetitive. That said, Tougias certainly does manage to squeeze in an absolute ton of quick summaries of individuals' experiences in disastrous situations, all of which are just as incredible as those he's written about in other books.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting. I thought it was going to be more focused about each individuals entire survival story. It was more just clips and what they used and had in common with other extreme survivors. It read a little like a self help book, but if there was ever a self help book that would be beneficial in an emergency situation, this is it.

[Abra Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy adventure and survival type books. This is a collection of situations where the author analyzes what traits the survivors had that helped them survive their situations. I found it very interesting. The writing is good and the stories were interesting with the lessons learned highlighted as to the kinds of thinking and things that can be done to increase your chances of survival.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of those who managed to survive extreme situations was very interesting. The authors attempt to have us learn from those who survived was boring. I was also surprised that there was no index, it would have been helpful.

[Edward Wendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd format for a self help book, but the manner in which the lessons are told is quite effective. A strong narrative involving real world events helps to keep the book moving quickly while highlighting the author's points.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a self-help book with survival stories broken down as lessons on how to approach the trial and tribulations of life. I'm good. I wouldn't recommend. I'd rather just read survival stories and learn my own lessons.

[Cyrrene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories were super interesting!!! The self help-y type format just wasn't for me. I can take the lessons from the stories myself. I'd rather not have them reiterated to me a million times.

[Harry Helbock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone to be inspired, moving through their everyday life.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents lessons from survival under intense, life-threatening turns of events. It focuses on the psychology of a survival mindset. The author has expertise in maritime survival, and a large portion of the cases explored involve survival at sea. Though the author did seek to include some variety, including concentration camps, home invasions, climbing accidents, etc. However, the maritime focus is worth noting because it’s in contrast to competing books which tend to give roughly equal discussion to a variety of different threats to survivorship.

There are three books I’ve read in recent years on extreme survival – i.e. Kamler’s "Surviving the Extremes,” Ashcroft’s “Life at the Extremes,” and Ripley’s “The Unthinkable.” Of these, the book that is most similar to Tougias’s is Ripley’s. The first two books focus much more on the physiology of survival in extreme environments. However, Ripley’s book also focuses on the psychological / mindset dimension of survival, though through a more diverse set of disasters.

The maritime focus didn’t bother me for three reasons. First, I’d rather have a person with expertise focus in that area than stumble about in lesser-known fields. It allowed Tougias to focus more on the stories of those with whom he’d conducted first-hand interviews. [The author did engage in a variety of stumbling in Chapter 8 [on the sunk cost fallacy] when he discussed the sunk cost fallacy as a separate but similar situation to those survival scenarios he’d already described [which were also cases of sunk costs] – i.e. it sounded like Tougias believes the sunk cost fallacy only applies to financial costs, which isn’t how economists look at the matter.] Second, survival at sea is one of the most intense scenarios I can imagine facing (i.e. I’m not concerned about survival in space, and I feel more experienced, competent, and -thus- less viscerally responsive to survive on terra firma – e.g. high elevation, deserts, etc.) Thirdly, since the book was on mindset, it didn’t need to be as diverse as the Kamler and Ashcroft books which examined the physiology of challenges presented by varied environments.

That said, I’d give a slight edge to the Ripley book, if you could choose only one. Still, this was a solid book on the subject, and did a great job with narrative examples and explanation of lessons. My criticisms are small. For example, like many books, chapters begin with quotations, but I felt they were the wrong quotations. Opening quotes are a widespread and fine approach when the quote is one that taps into the theme of the chapter. However, often the quotes in this book were from people involved in cases that were later presented within the chapter, and so the quotes often lacked context. If the quotes were meant to be hooks, some landed better than others. (A few simply left me befuddled.) On the other hand, the author did an excellent job with summaries at the end of the chapters.

All in all, this was a well-written book on survival, and I learned a great deal from reading it. If you don’t plan on reading multiple books on the subject, you might look into others first, but it’s certainly worth reading. And it’s a topic that gets one interested in reading more.

[Zakk Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting stories but the writing style was boring at times.