Deep Survival
Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence Gonzales · first published 2003
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Survival case studies that explain the psychology of who survives and why, ending with traits survivors share. Suits readers curious about decision-making under life-or-death pressure.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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If you enjoy tales of survival against the odds, I highly recommend Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales [1] It recounts multiple amazing tales of survival against the odds, then goes into the psychology of what's needed to survive such a situation. Finally, it lists the top 10 traits…
on “Lost at sea: a man who vanished for 14 months” ↗…the woods, etc), you don't focus on what will happen tomorrow, you just do what you need to do to survive the next 4 hours. You repeat this over and over until things get better. Check out the book "Deep Survival" by Laurence Gonzales if interested.
on “I quit – Peak indifference, big tobacco” ↗If you are interested in stories like this, and how people make life or death decisions in difficult situations, I recommend Laurence Gonzales's book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why.
on “Escape from Creek Fire” ↗A good book and a quick read on the same subject is: Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales.
on “14 Survival Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs” ↗Read: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales (This was a great read), The Painter by Peter Heller (Interesting novel), Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (Good ideas and…
on “Ask HN: What is HN reading?” ↗…you likely won't be able to put it down. Everest the Hard Way is a telling of a successful Everest expedition, but provides a good look into the planning and decision making that makes that happen. Deep Survival is also worth a read. It doesn't focus exclusively on mountaineering, but as I recall, some of the case-studies are mountaineering. Sorry, it's been a while. Into Thin Air, from which the article riffs…
on “Into Thin Error: Mountaineer Ed Viesturs on Making Mistakes (2010)” ↗Your second point is the basis for an entire chapter of the fantastic book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. The author goes through a bunch of case studies of people in survival situations, some who made it, others who didn't. The ones who didn't generally did something that…
on “How to Buy a Private Jet” ↗For more on the mindset of survival, I highly, highly recommend the book "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" [1] The author explores a bunch of real-life disaster/survival stories and gets into the mindset qualities displayed by the individuals who survive vs. those that don't.…
on “Doomsday planning for less crazy folk” ↗…Focusing on the present moment with a lot of awareness of your surroundings, for example, can definitely have survival benefits. A great book that delves into the mental aspects of survival situations is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. (I'm not claiming this has anything to do with sex scandals, it was just a side note the article mentioned. Also I'm not claiming that all forms of meditation have survival…
on “Is Enlightenment Compatible with Sex Scandals?” ↗…you have no choice but to wait or fight for your chance of which escape into the wider//bigger world of roads you want. I'm not sure why I noticed this whilst I live here yet I did. Perhaps reading "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" had something to do with it.
on “9/11 changed architecture and urban design forever” ↗I read “Deep Survival” a few years ago pre-pandemic and was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t a book of survival stories. The main takeaway for me was that sure, nature doesn’t care if you live or die, yet surviving in modern…
on “Ask HN: Concepts that clicked only years after you first encountered them?” ↗Just don't tie yourself together by rope while on mountains. One goes down, everyone goes down. Deep Survival is a great read. I picked that up from it. Human infants will die without physical touch. We are social creatures by our DNA. The worst punishment in older times was banishment. It was usually a…
on “The Horrors of Pompeii” ↗This reminds me of a great book: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. The author looks at case studies (and some stats iirc) of a bunch of people in life-threatening situations, some who survived and others not. He looks at how they acted,…
on “Maui residents who disobeyed barricades survived fires” ↗Some do, others sit down and cry until they die. Read “Deep Survival “ to get inside the heads of people going through severe hardship.
on “1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History” ↗Read about the incident in Deep Survival, absolutely stunning survival story.
on “How Chris McCandless Died: An Update” ↗