This book called The Survivor's Club is a conglomeration of things. It is a bunch of short stories about people who have survived and overcome some horrible and amazing things. That part is both frightening and inspiring. It is also a conversation with all kinds of experts - conversations about what makes a person a survivor and can those particular traits be taught or are they something in our biology that we can't control? Is "luck" real?
Readable and interesting, The Survivor's Club reminded me of a nice, long NPR piece. Lots of anecdotal information, lots of referring to experts (man are there experts in every crazy field!). Sometimes the reflective parts got a bit repetitive, but I just skimmed that part and it didn't bother me. I liked reading about the different survival training that people can go through (flight attendants, military personnel, etc.). Sherwood, as an author, is very much a part of what he has to talk about and his style is personable and respectful, especially when talking bout some really harrowing experiences.
I like some of the practical skills the book talks about (especially as regards to plane travel) and the quiz you can take online to find out about your own survival toolkit was actually a nice addition. While it isn't the best non-fiction I've ever read, I think it was really worth my time.
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2 comments:
I enjoyed this book but liked the first part more than the second part. When he started talking about how your name affected your chances of survival, I thought it was too much. I will say this - I always try to sit in an aisle seat on an airplane since I read it.
I read Unthinkable (a similar non fiction work as the above) and really liked it. It affected my plane travel too.
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