Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why Paperback – January 10, 2017

You talk about somebody being on top of his game. You have probably had the feeling before like this reader that you go through a book and say to yourself, this author has poured himself into the book. That is what we have here. Gonzalez has had a life-time to think about the different types of survival situations he is covering in this narrative, and each one is a story of courage, sacrifice, and living against the odds. He has somehow managed to figure out highly plausible explanations as to why some survive catastrophic circumstances while others fold, and die. Oddly enough most of the time it is not about who is the strongest physically, but rather who has what it takes INSIDE. Those who display bravado, they die the quickest.This reader simply loved this book, having read it when it first came out and then more recently once again on a trip out west, I would find myself sitting with pens underlining key statements, writing in margins, transposing sentences onto blank sheets in the front and back of the book. Who does this kind of thing? What kind of book can have that kind of effect on a reader? DEEP SURVIVAL is that kind of book.This is truly usable information we are dealing with. Other reviewers have done an excellent job of pointing out the assets and difficulties the book has. It is perhaps at this point more appropriate to point out some of the concepts you will learn by spending a few hours going through this book. It will dramatically change the way you look at your world around you, and perhaps if you discuss it with someone close to you, just might just save a life.The HIGHLIGHTS:* Gonzales talks about flying across the Pacific on vacation, stepping off a plane in Hawaii, and a few hours later putting on his bathing suit and going down to the beach for a swim whereupon he encounters a lifeguard and casually queries him, "Where do you think I should go for a swim today."Expecting a quick one or two sentence reply, he is astounded when the life guard gets down off his viewing post, and quietly spends several minutes looking at the water before replying. The guard then describes to the new vacationer in detail exactly the dangers that waiting for him in different sections of the visible water.To Gonzales it is obvious had he just gone casually into the water, he would have very easily wound him drowning. This leads us to the much bigger issue of how many people throughout the world would have just entered those waters with no awareness of the danger and then found themselves in trouble when it was too late to extricate themselves from danger. This whole concept is explored on page 130 of the book.* The dangers of mountain climbing and skiing are explored in detail. The author teaches you to have a new mindset when you enter the domain of the mountains. An amazing story is conveyed to the reader how people are trapped on a mountain, lifesavers from the ski patrol go up the trails, and successfully save those trapped. After it is all over, the lifesavers themselves then proceed to spirit their snowmobiles up and down the mountain to have a little fun after having been forewarned about the possibility of avalanches in this area, and then find themselves creating the very avalanche they were warned about.Several are killed instantly. How can this be? How can professionals totally aware of risk, trained to analyze and attempt to keep the odds on their side wind up killing themselves in the very environment that they are experts in? The answers are astounding, and there are lessons for each of us, if our minds are open to learning.* It is every parent's nightmare that their child gets lost, and Gonzales thoroughly covers this topic beginning on page 170. Years ago, I spent a week at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort. While traveling up the mountain with my daughter and a very experienced ski instructor, we met a young fellow about 8 years old traveling up the mountain alone. He was a member of a group that lives in the valley and has been trained in the ways of the mountain by professionals at Squaw that teach local children just this sort of activity. The ski instructor was completely comfortable with that boy going up alone. Now having been caught on two different mountains in a blizzard at Lake Tahoe over a ten year period, I simply could not believe it.Gonzalez explains in the book that people think because they are ensconced in a 50 million dollar set of buildings at the foot of a 21st century ski resort that somehow mother nature has been tamed. Man now rules the mountain - SURE. In this book you will learn why children 6 years and under have a much greater chance of survival and being found alive in a wilderness setting, than children 7 to 12 years of age. The evidence is in, the theories of why this is so are now known, and the information is available for our use in protecting our families. The author continues to both impress us, and educate us on topics that we really know nothing about, but think we know everything.* There is a direct correlation between the number of visitors to areas of danger such as the beaches in Hawaii, and mountain visitors and the number who disappear and die. The more visitors the more problems. This led the author to conclude that death in environments like this is a natural occurrence simply subject to ratios of the number of people involved. He also points out that these events like shark attacks are under-reported. As an example the number of people getting killed or bitten by sharks in Australia is much greater than what you read in newspapers. If you want to discourage tourism, just keep reporting high incidences of shark attacks. It makes sense, doesn't it?* For years we have all watched movies and television shows where actors do all kinds of stupid things that we say, no one would do that in real life. An example would be in a shootout, instead of protecting your body by shielding it behind something, you step out with your gun completely exposing your body and shoot from an exposed position. Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? The author explains that people really do incredibly stupid things in survival situations, like take off their backpack and leaving it, or their jacket because they are feeling warm for the moment.There is an entire psychology and branch of survival thinking that explains this kind of behavior. Perhaps the best defense against acting this way is to understand deeply, the intuitive reflexes that guide this kind of behavior. The author is a master at conveying to us what we need to know to prevent falling into these cognitive traps.CONCLUSION:This book is fantastic and this reader does not expect to ever read anything as good as this book on this topic again. Very shortly after its publication, the author wrote another book on this very same topic. The first half of the sequel was once again excellent. The second half however meandered completely off topic, which leads this reader to believe that sometimes an author has just one great book in him. Once it gets written, the author seeks to capitalize on the success of his earlier works by writing another book.One last thought. You will remember a number of years back, a group of pros getting caught in a blizzard climbing Mount Everest. Several of them died on the mountain during that event. It is one of the worst catastrophes to hit Everest in years. Prior to climbing the mountain one of the guides with an international reputation who was killed during the storm told one of the group that was going to climb with him, "Don't worry about Everest, we have been climbing this mountain for so long, we have it WIRED." It's that type of thinking which is illustrated throughout this book that gets you into trouble very quickly in a hostile natural environment. If there is one book you want to read on survival and give to members of your family, then Deep Survival is it. Go for it, and thank you for reading this review.Richard Stoyeck

The prologue was enough to get my attention, but I read on and just a few sentences into the first chapter, I could see that Gonzales is a great story teller. Weaving prose back and forth and leading you to wanting more, he teaches you about the chemistry of the brain, bravery, and stupidity in the face of danger. You get his point in the first chapter but you want to read more. I thought I had what it takes to survive but now I just hope I don't go stark raving mad in the first fifteen minutes if ever faced with the challenge. This book isn't what I'd call an easy read, but it is deeply compelling.Gonzales tries to be as comprehensive as possible without being called a medical textbook. His discussion of the human body's functioning can get boring. For instance, he says, "In the case of vision, axons from the retina go to the visual thalamus." Who cares? I don't! He says more about this stuff than I would ever care to know. However, these points solidify what he is saying about our reactions in dangerous situations; a very important factor if you are to trully learn how to survive. His stories are more than interesting opinions, they are research based facts that explain what happens to people when they get lost and panic. The medical stuff tapers off, but you see how important it is later as he paints pictures of what happens to those who aren't prepared both with equipment and with mental stamina.The author compares emotions and cognition; two forces that spur us to action. You quickly learn that we rely on feelings, much more than we do our thinking. This is very dangerous because our feelings are not based on the hard evidence before us. People who should know better, make bad decisions because of what Gonzales calls emotional bookmarks. "This was a good idea last time, so it must be a good idea now." People emotionally rationalize behavior based on past experiences rather than what they see in the actual situation. He even admits to faulty reasoning of his own in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.Once Gonzales establishes a firm base with stories and brain based studies, the book continues with comparisons and contrasts of events where people died and also lived even though their odds said just the opposite. You won't learn how to build a fire or skewer a wild pig like Rambo, but you will learn a great deal about the most important survival tool you have; your brain. Without it, even the best of equipment will be useless.Basically, Gonzales says, doing stupid things, not thinking, and being impatient will get you killed even if you know what you're doing. Sounds simple, but it is much more complicated than you might think.