Review: The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood
The Survivors Club
by Ben Sherwood
In a crisis, what determines who will live and who will die? Sure, there's an element of luck - and sometimes, luck determines all - but what else is a deciding factor? Ben Sherwood speaks to dozens of survivors from around the world in an effort to isolate this special x factor, and distill it into an easy set of principles for modern life.
The vast majority of the book is made up of anecdotes and vignettes about people surviving traumatic falls, beating back cancer or living through airplane crashes. While many of these little stories are interesting, a lot of them weren't all that remarkable. I mean, it seems like everyone knows someone who has had cancer or a heart attack and survived, and while I don't wish to trivialize someone's experience I'm really not all that interested in hearing some stranger talk about it. I guess that makes me rather callous. But I was mainly reading this book to hear concrete, scientific reasons for why people survive, and I felt like there wasn't enough of that in this book.
Here are a few of the reasons Sherwood found for why people survive:
Those who take action quickly are more likely to survive.
Those who have faith in a higher power are more likely to survive.
Those with a strong will to live are more likely to survive.
And so on and so forth. Some of his reason seemed incredibly common sense. Of course someone with a strong will to live is more likely to survive than someone who wants to die. While there are some interesting facts sprinkled throughout the book - if you have a heart attack, the best place to have it is in Las Vegas, because casinos are very well-equipped to respond - most of it seemed rather fluffy to me.
One incredibly odd thing about this audiobook: during particularly “intense” moments in a story, random music would start playing in the background. I suppose it was an attempt on the producers' end to heighten the tension, but it was just silly and distracting, especially since it happened only sporadically.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Survivors Club, buy it from an independent bookstore or add it to your wishlist click here.
by Ben Sherwood
In a crisis, what determines who will live and who will die? Sure, there's an element of luck - and sometimes, luck determines all - but what else is a deciding factor? Ben Sherwood speaks to dozens of survivors from around the world in an effort to isolate this special x factor, and distill it into an easy set of principles for modern life.
The vast majority of the book is made up of anecdotes and vignettes about people surviving traumatic falls, beating back cancer or living through airplane crashes. While many of these little stories are interesting, a lot of them weren't all that remarkable. I mean, it seems like everyone knows someone who has had cancer or a heart attack and survived, and while I don't wish to trivialize someone's experience I'm really not all that interested in hearing some stranger talk about it. I guess that makes me rather callous. But I was mainly reading this book to hear concrete, scientific reasons for why people survive, and I felt like there wasn't enough of that in this book.
Here are a few of the reasons Sherwood found for why people survive:
Those who take action quickly are more likely to survive.
Those who have faith in a higher power are more likely to survive.
Those with a strong will to live are more likely to survive.
And so on and so forth. Some of his reason seemed incredibly common sense. Of course someone with a strong will to live is more likely to survive than someone who wants to die. While there are some interesting facts sprinkled throughout the book - if you have a heart attack, the best place to have it is in Las Vegas, because casinos are very well-equipped to respond - most of it seemed rather fluffy to me.
One incredibly odd thing about this audiobook: during particularly “intense” moments in a story, random music would start playing in the background. I suppose it was an attempt on the producers' end to heighten the tension, but it was just silly and distracting, especially since it happened only sporadically.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Survivors Club, buy it from an independent bookstore or add it to your wishlist click here.