Sunday, June 5, 2011

30. The Survivor's Club: The Secrets And Science That Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, but a lady in my book club chose it for the month of May. Even though I was a little reluctant to read it, once I got started I couldn't stop. I found the book absolutely fascinating. The author, Ben Sherwood, had gone around and interviewed all these people who had survived crazy things. Then he tried to figure out why they survived or what factors contributed to their success. The book is organized into different things that affect your survival and different kinds of situations. For example, there is a whole chapter on surviving plane crashes, and one on how much God and your faith affect your chances. Just the true stories of the people who survived are worth reading. The people survived everything from jumping off the Golden Gate bridge to being attacked by a mountain lion to a horrendous knitting needle accident (seriously, knitting needles can be very dangerous--who knew?) My favorite part is obviously the stories, but the tips on surviving difficult situations were almost as interesting. And I think the overall tone of the book is very positive and uplifting: not "look at all the horrible stuff that can happen to you" but "here's what survivors do and you can do it too." I really liked it and would recommend it to anyone.