"Deep Survival - Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why"

This book by Laurence Gonzales explores why some individuals survive accidents or catastrophic events against all odds while others die - sometimes because they made a wrong choice.

Although I struggled through Part One -- except for the anecdotal stories, I found wisdom in "The Rules of Life" that the author and his eldest daughter came up with when she was only six years old:

Rule 1: "Be here now." The author sees this one as a good survival rule because paying attention to the here and now also involves keeping an up-to-date mental model which can make a huge difference in whether one survives or not.

Rule 2: "Everything takes eight times as long as it's supposed to." In survival terms this can mean being adaptable and not getting caught up in sticking with a plan that might not make sense in the current situation.

At the top of page 88 in Chapter Six, Gonzales discusses how elite performers train hard so when novices go into the wilderness, they need to train hard,too. Novices will face the same challenges experts do but nature won't adjust to their level of skill -- or lack of skill.

Chapter Eight is entitled "Danger Zones" and makes the case for consulting locals when you're in new territory before venturing into a situation that might look innocuous but could actually have some elements of danger that a local might forewarn you about.

Part Two is titled "Survival" and this is where the book really became more engrossing for me because it gives mostly examples of real life situations and why some individuals survived and others did not. There is a paragraph here that really spoke to me because this book is not just about surviving major events but it also offers good advice for living and surviving life -- deaths, divorce, etc.

On page 157, the author writes, "Being lost, then, is not a location; it is a transformation. It is a failure of the mind. It can happen in the woods or it can happen in life. People know that instinctively. A man leaves a perfectly good family for a woman half his age and makes a mess of it, and people say, he got off the path, he lost his way. If he doesn't get back on, he'll lose the self,too. A corporation can do the same thing."

Gonzales then goes on to talk about five general stages in the process that a person goes through when lost:

Stage 1) Deny you're disoriented and press on with growing urgency trying to make your mental map fit what you're actually seeing.

Stage 2) Next you realize you're really lost so the urgency blossoms into a full-scale survival emergency. "Clear thought becomes impossible and action becomes frantic, unproductive, even dangerous."

Stage 3) This is usually after an injury or exhaustion, "you expend the chemicals of emotion and form a strategy for finding some place that matches the mental map. (It is a misguided strategy, for there is no such place now. You are lost.)"

Stage 4) "....you deteriorate both rationally and emotionally, as the strategy fails to resolve the conflict."

Stage 5) "...you run out of options and energy, you must become resigned to your plight. Like it or not, you must make a new mental map of where you are. You must become Robinson Crusoe or you will die. To survive, you must find yourself. Then it won't matter where you are."

At the bottom of page 162 the author talks about the Zen concept of the beginner's mind, "the mind that remains open and ready despite years of training. 'In the beginner's mind there are many possibilies,' said Zen master Shunryu Suzuki. 'In the expert's mind there are few.'" This might explain why some novices survive and some skilled adventurers do not!

Laurence Gonzales is himself a "veteran adventurer" and shares from his and his family's own personal experiences of survival. For more, go to www.deepsurvival.com.

pazt

Pennies

I often ponder the value of pennies -- worth so little these days. When I was a child (probably dating myself now, aren't I?), a penny could purchase a stamped post card at the post office or bubble gum as well as a myriad of other items. I think my favorite candy bar was five pennies! Now a penny won't even cover the sales tax and I'm always trying to spend pennies so my coin purse won't be full of them.

A couple of weeks ago when my daughter and I were taking her two younger children to a morning children's concert in a local park, we were walking with them from the parking lot to the concert setting. My daughter was a little ahead and had her 5 year old daughter with her. I was walking behind with her 3 year old son and he became upset because he'd seen some money on the ground and we'd walked past it.

Well, the four of us made a detour back but couldn't find the money so I told him when we were situated on our blanket, I'd find some money in my coin purse for him. Of course, as often happens with siblings, his sister also wanted some money. When I opened my coin purse, I only had four pennies so I divided the coins between them. My granddaughter immediately began talking about going to the mall to spend her pennies and my daughter and I (thinking we'd greatly disappoint her) had to let her know that she really wouldn't be able to buy anything at the mall with two pennies.

Oh, the resilience and wonder of children! We'd forgotten about the fountain located in the middle of the mall where you can toss coins to benefit charities. Both grandchildren knew exactly where they were going to "spend" their pennies -- in the fountain.

Wouldn't it be nice to retain that small child excitement and delight as adults to enable us to see the wonder and positive in all situations!

pazt

"The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" - an eclipse novella

This new book by Stephenie Meyer, the author of the bestselling Twilight saga books, is about a minor vampire character in the Eclipse novel. I thought it was clever that $1.00 from each book sold is being donated to the American Red Cross.

My younger daughter introduced me to "The Twilight Saga" - a series of four novels by Meyer. Three of them have already hit the big screen in movie form with "Eclipse" being the latest one and just released this summer. I loved the books and enjoyed this novella but not as much as the other four books written by Meyer and set in Forks, WA.

The movies have incredible special effects and, if you're a fan of vampire stories --which seem to be all the rage these days -- I think you'll enjoy them.

pazt

"Curse of the Spellmans" by Lisa Lutz

Lisa Lutz has done it again in her sequel to "The Spellman Files." Private Investigator Isabel (Izzy) Spellman returns with her wacky family to provide more entertainment. As I try to read these books in bed, I'm shaking the bed with laughter. Fortunately, I have an understanding spouse who attempts (reasonably well it seems) to sleep through my late night reading. Once again Izzy jumps to some erroneous conclusions while trying to solve a mystery but she's lucky to have Police Inspector Henry Stone and her younger sister, Rae, to get her back on track.

Good News! The first book is being adapted as a movie by Paramount Pictures. I can hardly wait to see the Spellmans on the big screen!

In the meantime, I have some other books to read to prepare for the August meeting of my book club. Since I'm leading the discussion, I will have to wait to read "Revenge of the Spellmans!"

pazt

"All The Queen's Players" by Jane Feather

This historical fiction novel set in sixteenth-century England is well-written and entertaining. Rosamund Walsingham, a young woman ignored by her older brothers for the most part after the deaths of her parents,is allowed to pretty much live her own life as she chooses in the family's simple country home. It's no wonder that she makes a misstep or two when she is brought to the attention of her cousin, Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State. He decides it would be helpful to place his young cousin in Queen Elizabeth's court. When one of her "missteps" finds her out of favor with the Queen, Sir Francis manages to "banish" her to Mary, Queen of Scots, as his spy to assist in bringing down the downfall and subsequent death of this imprisoned Queen. Although Rosamund is a fictional character, many others in this book including Sir Francis Walsingham and Christopher (Kit) Marlowe are not. Jane Feather brings these characters, real and imagined, to life and shows what it was like to be a young woman (often used as pawns in family intrigues)in this time period. The papterback version I read includes a Readers club Guide as well as author notes.

pazt

"Gran Torino"

If you, like me and my spouse, thought you didn't want to see this Clint Eastwood movie, please rethink your position. After several of our book club friends recommended this movie to us, we decided to pick up a copy at our local library to view. Wow! What a movie! I won't spoil the story by telling you more but be prepared for relationship transformations. ( This is my second viewing of this DVD and, if you'd like more details, you will find them in my April 29th posting.) If you're a car buff, you may also enjoy watching the "Special Features."

pazt

"Beat The Reaper"

This debut novel by Josh Bazell has received a lot of good reviews. He is certainly well qualified to write with a B.A. in English literature and writing from Brown University. What's surprising to me is how he found time to pen this novel while completing his medical internship.

Although I found the book entertaining, I had a little difficulty at times with some of the more gruesome details of the story. It's certainly a novel premise for a mystery with the lead character being Dr. Peter Brown, an intern at a New York hospital who has a rather shady past which he must confront in the course of an 8 hour day! I picked it up off the "favorites" shelf at my local library and it was a quick read for me because the story hooked me early on.

pazt

"Game Over" -- a Detective Inspector Bill Slider Mystery

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has done it again with a new Detective Inspector Bill Slider mystery - kept me entertained and wishing for more. I think she only has one other book written in this series that I haven't read so I'm hoping she's busy writing another one!

In the middle of solving a high profile murder that, for once, the major case squad does not want to take away from him to solve themselves, Slider has his hands full. With his boss and his whole department behind him, he sets out to solve the case while trying to thwart the attempts of a crazed escaped convict threatening violence against him and his family. This English whodunit gets my vote!

pazt

"A Beautiful Place To Die"

This first novel by Malla Nunn is set in 1950's apartheid South Africa and is the first in a series of books by her featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper. Malla is a filmmaker with three award-winning films.

Detective Cooper is a complex character with demons of his own which Nunn hints at and slowly unfolds without yet giving us the whole story -- which I expect we'll learn progressively in her future books in this series.

Detective Cooper is sent to investigate the murder of an Afrikaner police officer then has the case taken out of his hands by a higher authority -- the powerful police Security Branch. Although Cooper is told to stay out of this investigation, he is allowed to investigate an old unsolved case of the murdered police officer. His dogged pursuit of the perpetrator in that case has him smack in the middle of the case he's been told to stay out of!

As Cooper learns more and more about the private life of the murdered man, we also learn what it was like to live in apartheid South Africa so, in some senses, this mystery is also a historical novel.

pazt