book :: deep survival

“We are disturbed not by events, but by the views which we take of them” - Epictetus

I’m not sure what the source was… it was definitely a recommendation that got me to pick up Deep Survival. Subtitled “who lives, who dies, and why, true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death”, the cover and associated cover bumpf would otherwise not have tempted me to check it out from the library.

However Laurence Gonzales’ book is a cracker. It is a book about the mind, and it mixes Stoic philosophy, Chaos theory and Zen Buddhism together to try explain the crucial differences between who survive and those that die. The stories are all big outdoors adventures but as Gonzales explains the learnings can be applied to personal and business lives. Highly recommended.

Updated:

Based on reading Deep Survival I rented the DVD 'Touching the Void'. It's the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' remarkable experience climbing Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Somewhat delirious, towards the end of his ordeal Simpson, who did not like Boney M, got the song 'Brown Girl in Ring' looping in this head for a couple of hours.

“...and I remember thinking 'bloody hell I'm going to die [listening] to Boney M'” - Simpson