How to Survive Anything. A visual guide to laughing in the face of adversity. Earthquake imminent? Stuck in the middle seat on a long-haul flight? Here is a book that will teach you How To Survive Anything. Using the witty, graphic format it will help you withstand any challenge, from the extreme to the ordinary, that life might throw your way.
OUR STORY A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
If you’ve made it this far, you already know it’s a dangerous world out there. Ebola, terrorism, Twitter trolls — everyday is a battle against threats to your life. Wouldn’t it be great to have a little guidance?
Finally, there’s help for your inner action hero: “How to Survive Anything” (Lonely Planet, $19.99). This helpful book, hilariously illustrated by Rob Dobi, provides a “visual guide to laughing in the face of adversity.”
Because you never know where the next threat will come from, “How to Survive Anything” casts a wide net. A very wide net. Here you’ll find everything from “How to survive a nuclear explosion” to “How to survive a trip to the opera. . . .
I thought this would be more humorous than it was, which may be my fault for not reading more reviews. Mostly it alternated between realistic and over the top fictional situations, with various degrees of actual danger. I had trouble staying focused on it, honestly, despite the illustrations.
Frankly I’m a little surprised that I’m rating this book as highly as I did. When books come hit my desk, after reading, they either go on the shelf to be revisited (space is at a premium), or into a banker’s box for my fav used book store. This book is staying on the shelf.
Here are my reasons, one by one.
1.) It offered scenarios both real and imagined, some of which I had never even considered. While none of the instructions were 100% comprehensive, they all prompted me to think and consider new information. For example, the “zombie attack” instructions suggested that you should travel at the hottest part of the day because, “Zombies are unlikely to have the same cooling response as humans, and moving generates heat…” and then suggests that it might limit their ability to function. Is this practical advice? Probably not. But all the advice in the book feels well researched and for some strange reason I’m glad I have that tid-bit of info floating in my brain soup.
2.) If you look around, the world is rather… “fally-aparty” these days. Having just read Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” a fictional tale in which the United States is quickly devolving into violence and terror during the “far future” election of 2024. The main character of the story, a young woman named Lauren, recommends to her friend to read anything and everything in an effort to learn unexpected survival tips. She’s criticized for scaring her friend with this advice - but Lauren turns out to be correct in her thinking. This light hearted book, surprisingly, has real and valid info in it. Give it to your friends as a “humorous gift” and save their lives a couple chapters down the line.
3.) I like poetry, of many stripes and kinds. As silly as this sounds, the book has a kind of surrealist poetic quality to it. Some of it comes from irony, or the use of interesting words (Americans get ready for some alien UK Commonwealth terms), to it’s brief and playful instructional “stanzas.” Even the choice of topics are poetic. They range from “Zombie Attack,” to “falling through the ice” and “forrest fires,” as well as “running into an ex” and “Phall Curry.” Which kind of explores the range and nature of human pain, fear, and suffering.
4.) If you’re a writer, or suffer from anxiety (or likely both), this is an excellent book to pick up during a block or panic spiral. Not only is there a “writer’s block” survival entry, if you’re looking for a scenario to work a character in to or out of, this has some interesting ideas. If you have anxiety, I think it could allay a few potential, if unlikely, fears.
Is this book a masterpiece of writing? Maybe not, but it’s clear and mildly entertaining, and it might just save your life.
How to Survive Anything by Lonely Planet presents the reader with step-by-step instructions on how to get out of such jams as meeting ones in-laws, being bitten by a snake, a zombie attack, falling through ice, a parachute that won't deploy, and getting locked out of one's hotel room while naked. The comical illustrations really do make this book something to enjoy, as they make it something educational at parts, well downright silly at some points. It provides valuable advice, well keeping it light-hearted. The choices of language used were just comical and added to the laughs, using pompous words ironically and this makes some humour that not everyone picks up. Overall, this was a great book and I don't have much more to say. 10/10 would recommend, 5 stars.
A step-by-step instruction to face (almost) any challenge in witty graphic format. Not likely to get into some of these adversities, like how to survive spacewalk, but it was fun to learn how.
My favorite tip is on how to survive an all-you-can-eat buffet (yes, we all love food!). And second favorite is on how to survive time travel: don't do inconsistent causal loop, like killing your grandpa, but do consistent causal loop, like putting money in a compound interest account. Ha!
An interesting book that takes a lighter view of some of the most unusual and often life-threatening situations. Whether these will work or not is a different issue, but it is a fun take at them.
A very eclectic collection of situations are described here - some very possible and others completely crazy - but quite a fun read and with a few serious/useful points to make.
How to Survive Anything by Lonely Planet presents the reader with step-by-step instructions on how to get out of such jams as meeting ones in-laws, being bitten by a snake, a zombie attack, falling through ice, a parachute that won't deploy, and getting locked out of one's hotel room while naked. So it is not quite a book that I would add to my middle school collection, although it's comic panel style and often amusing illustrations would interest young and old alike. And despite the book's lightheartedness, its advice seems quite sound.