Kara (karalimes) reviewed on 2/3/2014

I loved this book! It's not a collection of exciting survival stories (if that's what you're after), but rather the author briefly relates several survival stories and (the point of the book) analyzes them for clues as to why some people survive life-threatening situations and some do not. The first chapter was very dry, a little dull, and went over my head; thereafter, however, I couldn't put the book down.

From the stories he relates, Gonzales distills principles which may seem obvious, but obviously are not, since some of the people in his stories don't survive. One I remember is "don't be so committed to a goal or plan that you won't adjust it even if circumstances change," i.e. if you planned to leave at 4 AM and hike to the summit of a mountain, but get held up and don't start until 9 AM and halfway up storm clouds start rolling in, don't insist on hiking all the way to the summit, even in unsafe conditions, because *that was your plan.*

To me, one great, unexpected thing about the book was that the principles he explicates are useful in everyday life, too, not just in imminently life-threatening conditions. For example, I'd been hung up on not achieving a particular goal and not moving forward with life because of it, but this book prompted me to finally open my eyes and say, "OK, that was my plan, but circumstances changed and it's time to update/adjust my plan and move on."

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