Book Review: Deep Survival

Deep Survival:  Who Lives, Who Dies and Why  by Laurence Gonzales

I picked up this book because I'm fascinated by human behavior and extreme behavior to be more precise.   It has bearing on my role as an instructor in both motorcycling and firearms.  I would absolutely read more of his work and I am recommending this to my students who take the Concealed Carry course with me.  

The case studies are varied and interesting.  From my vantage point the most important piece of the book comes from his ability to make a clear theory of survival.  The author draws on a gamut of literature;  some historical, some spiritual, and some academic.  He does a great job of making the work accessible to the non academic. The common thread running through any of the examples he uses is a deeper understanding of the complexity of a system that often predicts failure.  He and others forward the notion that highly organized but complex systems  increase the inevitability of an accident.  Training both the body and mind are critical to survival and while simple in theory it is our human nature to sometimes complicate things unnecessarily.  This can be true of those of us who conceal carry.    

I recently  had the chance to hear Mr. Gonzales read from his new book, United Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival.  It had a theme similar to his Deep Survival book. He reinforced the idea that complex systems lend themselves to inevitable accidents.  During the question and answer session I asked him about this and he gave me a story in response.  He asked us all to imagine wanting to have dinner at the hottest new restaurant in town. This place where reservations take months to get and their seating policy is very strict, meaning your whole party needs to be there on time or you lose out.  He asked, how many of your friends can you invite before it doesn’t happen?  At some point, he added the system breaks down, someone from your party is late, someone cancels, another person couldn’t arrange childcare,  someone just flakes out and ultimately the plan for dinner fails.  Reasonably you can invite 5 people and expect it to happen.  After that point, you are skirting culinary disaster.  An interesting way to think about systems.  

Lest you think this read is all doom and gloom and that the author is suggesting to keep yourself locked indoors and parked on your couch.  He is really advocating for your to go out there and live life fully.  Develop a keener sense of context both external and internal.