Deep Survival

I’ve been reading Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales over Christmas. It’s basically anecdote after anecdote (or case study after case study if you prefer) about things going wrong on mountains, in boats, on surfboards, in jungle – In the wilderness.

I am only half way through but the basic premise is that having more experience can mean in certain circumstances you are more in danger. This due to applying successful past outcomes of actions to similar but different situations rather than assessing each situation on its own merits. The dangers of heuristics. He is also of the opinion that being experienced can just mean that you’ve been getting away with doing things wrong for a long time!

I’ll leave you with this fantastic quote.

“The environment we’re used to is designed to sustain us. We live like fish in an aquarium. Food comes mysteriously down, oxygen bubbles up. We are the domestic pets of a human zoo we call civilization. Then we go into nature, where we are least among equals with all other creatures. There we are put to the test. Most of us sleep through the test. We get in and out and never know what might have been demanded. Such experience can make us even more vulnerable for we come away with the illusion of growing hardy, salty, knowledgeable.”