Surviving the Extremes

I was very sneaky and just finished reading a book which wasn’t on my “Currently Reading” list.  The book was Surviving the Extremes: What Happens to the Body and Mind at the Limits of Human Endurance by Kenneth Kamler, and I loved it.  It’s the perfect book for couch potatoes like me who want to experience every possible adventure in life, but who can’t seem to walk down a flight of stairs without twisting an ankle.  In the real world the Sahara desert would make short work of me, but through “Surviving the Extremes” I was able to imagine all the physical challenges without risking anything more than a papercut.  Kamler does a great job of combining anedotal stories of people lost at sea, trapped underwater, stranded in the desert, exposed at high altitude, and even in outer space, with factual medical information about how such environments affect our physiology.  The book is peppered with useful survival information as well—if you’re lost in the desert with no water, you should refrain from eating because the process of digestion uses up more water than would be ingested from the food, for example.  The initial chapter about life in the Amazon was a bit flat and seemed to meander a bit, but Kamler really excels when he writes about his personal experiences scuba diving and climbing Mount Everest.  He’s written another book strictly about his Everest experience, which I’ll definitely read shortly (it’s on the bookshelf). 

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/09 at 08:47 PM

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