By Laurence Gonzales
© 2017 W . W . Norton & Company
REVIEW
Deep Survival : Who Lives , Who Dies , and Why
By Laurence Gonzales
© 2017 W . W . Norton & Company
Reviewed by
Brian Ferguson , MD
It does not take long in medicine to meet people who die but who we had suspected would live . Others we care for , of a similar age and presentation , manage to look worse initially yet live to discharge . Ever wonder if there might be something consistently innate within those that make it ? Have you ever wondered if you would pull through in an analogous situation ? What if you were lost in the mountains , cold , perilously injured , with no hope of rescue for weeks ?
Laurence Gonzales has added an interesting voice to the survival and wilderness literature . Most people who go through life threatening situations and experience frantic and paralyzing panic do the wrong things , follow these with even worse decisions , and of this , 90 percent ( per Gonzales ) end up dead . This work meticulously explores the paradigm characteristics of the latter 10 percent who seem to remain calm , collected , hopeful , and return home to tell about their perils .
As it turns out , these situations are not entirely comprised of luck .
Deep Survival is a gripping and intriguing meshwork of stories of survival and analyses of unbelievable and harrowing sagas . As a writer for National Geographic and a researcher into the survivalist mentality , Gonzales brings a unique perspective to stories of survival . An interesting twist is the inclusion of his father ’ s story . As a pilot
in the 1940s , he lived through a catastrophic plane crash , followed thereafter by the reprieve of months of starvation and torture in a WWII prison camp . His father ’ s will to survive , amidst the majority who died , was a key motivating factor to Gonzales ’ career path , and eventually , this book .
His entire life Laurence has attempted to answer , “ What made my father different ?’’
After years of case study into individual incidents , Gonzales has brought together an outline of tendencies and characteristics which seem consistent among survivors . He discovered many of his findings are generalizable across vastly different people and situations . For example , in the case of lost children , those younger than six years old , interestingly , have a much higher survival rate than those 6-12 . This seems counterintuitive — except : when a five-year-old is tired : they sleep , if hungry : they eat , and cold : they seek shelter , when lost : they stay in a near region . When lost in the wild , those that are older will usually persist in desperate wandering in a frantic fury , masquerading as hope to find help . In panicked exhaustion , they frequently wander farther away from safety / assistance , and end up dying of exposure .
Those who live in isolated and caustic environments expend only small amounts of energy at any given time , spend most of their time resting , and will consistently focus on being grateful . Being grateful when all external hope is lost is key to keeping the mind
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE