Laurence Gonzales

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales, was a pick of my monthly book club that I greeted with some ambivalence at first. As it turned out, it was a highly satisfying read that was nothing like what I anticipated from scanning the back cover.
The book is more or less divided into two parts, although there is no real hard division as such. The first half of the narrative tends to dwell on those who find themselves in critically dangerous arenas who make bad show more decisions and die. Surprisingly, it turns out that the worst survivors are the “Rambo-types” who don’t take danger very seriously at all. There is one story of comic-poignancy of a badass Army Ranger who is swept off of a raft and cavalierly ignores the efforts of a guide to save him, seemingly because he thought he could easily rescue himself: he was sucked under a boulder and drowned.
Gradually, the chapters flow into accounts of those who manage to survive, often under impossible circumstances, from aircraft crashes in the remote mountains to badly injured rock climbers to deep ocean lifeboat survivors. While the people who die often don’t have a great deal in common, the ones who survive do have apparent similarities in their outlook and their stubborn refusal to succumb. Frequently, it is luck alone that has spared them in the initial catastrophe, but it is their determination to survive and the practical and emotional steps they take to achieve that which contributes to that ultimate survival.
Gonzales, who seems to have spent his entire life chasing danger in every arena from motorcycles to rock climbing to flying stunt aircraft, tells us that he became interested in survival because of his own father’s experience as a severely injured World War II pilot, the lone survivor of his plane’s crash, who can credit both good luck and his own mental focus and perseverance for a long, painful, and unlikely survival in horrific conditions as a POW after being shot down. Laying there with his nose ripped off and most of the bones in his limbs broken, he literally stares death in the face again as the gun of a German farmer intent on executing him misfires before his proper capture by enemy troops. Inspired by his father’s almost incomprehensible survival, Gonzales not only dedicates his life to chasing danger, but also to the study of who is most likely to make it when the odds go way against you.
It is not just all an adventure tale, however. Gonzales injects into the storyline a number of esoteric scientific references to such things as chaos theory, as well as the physiological makeup of the brain and how it reacts to the less than optimal conditions many of his protagonists find themselves in before succumbing to their conditions or ultimately succeeding in getting out alive. He makes a convincing argument that mental focus and optimism is the most critical factor, that while even those with the best mental orientation who make all of the right decisions can still die, they are far less likely to than their peers who panic or treat danger with insouciance or simply give up. The narrative is also peppered with a wide range of literary references that reveal the author to be very well read in the humanities, from Herodotus to Remarque to the Tao Te Ching. It is obvious that he has long meditated upon the philosophical element of his central theme, and the interspersed turns to both science and literature not only provide a solid intellectual foundation but further underscore his own deep commitment to his conclusions as to which individuals are more likely to live or die.
Fortunately, I have never found myself in the kind of survival situations Gonzales discusses in this fine book, but as one who has done a bit of AT backpacking, I have indeed encountered places and events that could very well have provided the proving ground. I would recommend this book not only to those who go into the wild, but to every soul who walks the planet: you could be in an office building that catches fire or in your basement as a tornado dissolves your home. It is not only a good read, but the lessons Gonzales imparts here could very well save your life. show less

I took a chance on this one. My first thought upon finding this was "A half human, half ape girl? I don't know about this.." But my curiosity was picqued enough that when I found it at my local library, I decided... "What the heck.. it's here already and doesn't require an ILL request.."

It was surprisingly good and had me on the edge of my seat. (Obviously! I devoured it a day!) Lucy is the result of a scientist that has lived 25 years in the Congo jungle studying bonobos. The scientist show more artificially inseminated a female bonobo with faint human genes (also of his creation) with his own seed and raised Lucy as both human and bonobos for 14 years. Lucy and her father's peaceful if strange jungle existence comes to an abrupt halt when civil war breaks out tho. Her entire family is dead and a fellow scientist, Jenny rescues her with no knowledge of Lucy's unique DNA.

Jenny takes Lucy to home with her to Chicago but the secret eventually comes out. When Jenny discovers she is adopting an ape girl, she vows to protect Lucy at all costs. Don't make promises you cannot keep!! Due to medical issues, Lucy's secret is discovered.

Soon everyone wants Lucy. The religious fanatics want her. The US government wants her. Scientists want her. The Nazis even want her. And most of them want her dead. With her posting her entire life on Youtube and showing up on Oprah and Good Morning America, it's only a matter of time before Lucy is captured by one of those groups. Will she get away? There's bound to bloodshed, but whose? And when it comes down to it, is Lucy more human or more ape?

I laughed when Lucy tosses a boy across the wrestling mat and chuckled when she watches YouTube and thinks of how drunk girls act like bonobos. I found the book rather insightful as well. It's an interesting look at human behavior from a non human POV. Makes you think.

Four stars because I thought Lucy's friend, Amanda needed to get her own life. I found her constant involvement in everything weird. show less

I had chills. They were multiplyin'. Gonzales grabs you by the throat and refuses to let you breathe for several hundred pages. This is a masterwork of construction, and for the reader, he or she will find several survivors or casualties with whom to identify. The stories are that rich, full, and personal. The story is so well put-together, that the author should be hired by the NTSB to compile the full facts any time there's an accident. Strangely satisfying are also the threads that could show more not be tied: the money on the plane, the identity of the inspector, etc. Also fascinating, and revealed very well are the dichotomy of human frailty and resilience. Some of us have one, some the other, some both. They're all here. We are all in this book. It is amazing. Remember to try to breathe every dozen or so pages. You'll need it to wrestle loose the lump in your throat. show less

A mostly engaging ride that stalls out intermittently: the book could have been improved by editing it down just a little. Instead of trying to weave three different stories (that of survivors, of his father’s survival, and his own risk taking) the author should have chosen two out of three for greater reader impact. Leave out either his father’s story, his own, or compress the two into a tighter narrative, a “flip side of the same coin” thing or study in contrasts. There was also show more some redundancy in the stories of survival. It’s incredibly tempting to want to share everything you’ve amassed but the best writers resist that urge.

Having said that, the book certainly is worthwhile and there are several strong insights into what personality traits set the best foundation for survival in any kind of situation, not just wilderness. In fact, the entire premise would have been better backed up by featuring survival stories that did NOT take place in an adventure scenario.

Gonzales writes: “One of the toughest steps a survivor has to take is to discard the hope of rescue, just as he discards the old world he left behind and accepts the new one. There is no other way for his brain to settle down. Although that idea seems paradoxical, it is essential.” If we do nothing else in enabling our survival, it is to “perceive and believe” the reality around us rather than fighting to make it conform to our mental maps of what should be, what should work; to turn fear into focus. show less