Though 鈥渟urvival鈥澨齣s a听slightly specific genre, we never seem to run out of new books on the subject. This spring proves the point, with three new stories of nail-biting worst-case scenarios鈥攁nd they鈥檙e all true.
Honeymoon Horror Story
鈥楻uthless River鈥 by Holly Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald and her husband head out on an adventurous honeymoon in the Amazon, and… you see where this is听going, right? After their plane crashes in thick听jungle, they try to make their way out on a decrepit raft, with all the scary critters, mosquito swarms, and close calls that you might expect. Fitzgerald writes about her ordeal in a quick and dialogue-heavy manner, so this one鈥檚 a fast read.
All of a sudden I felt a stinging, burning sensation. It began on my scalp then ran down my neck, onto my bare shoulders and then my back, like flames blistering my skin. 鈥淚鈥檓 on fire! Please, help me!鈥
Stuck in a Seven-Story Crevasse
鈥業cefall鈥櫶齜y听John All
Maybe you remember All from an 11-minute YouTube video in which he films his own escape from听a 70-foot crevasse on Everest in 2014.听(.) In听Icefall,听the scientist elaborates on other scary run-ins from his travels studying the changing climate, from avalanches to snakes. But yes, reading about that crevasse fall is a highlight, especially since All lets us in on parts of the escape he didn鈥檛 capture on camera鈥攃onsidering he climbed out with 15 broken bones, we can't blame him for not filming the whole thing.听
I was being battered to lumpy meat. I was picking up speed. Faster, and hopelessly faster still. Ten, twenty, maybe听thirty miles an hour, gravity pulled me down. Four stories. Five. More. How far to the bottom? No telling. Did it matter? I was dying.
Stranded in the Middle of the Ocean
鈥楢 Speck in the Sea鈥 by John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski
鈥婽here are two men on a lobster boat 40 miles from Long Island, and it鈥檚 the middle of the night. One of the men sleeps while the other works听on the deck. The man on the deck falls overboard and the boat, on autopilot, drifts away from his sight. was that unfortunate man, and it鈥檚 pretty astounding听that he survived, considering he had听no flotation devices and fell into a vast stretch of ocean where it was near impossible for rescue teams to quickly locate him. Soon to be a feature-length film as well, his story听is laid out in agonizing detail here鈥攑ing-ponging between Aldridge鈥檚 personal account of his stranding听and the actions of his family, friends, and rescue personnel as they scrambled to locate him.
Red-hot adrenaline is coursing through me, and I am flailing, gagging on seawater, thrashing my arms as I reach for the receding听Anna Mary.听I am trying to run to my boat鈥攖o fly toward it鈥攕hrieking 鈥淎nthony! Anthony!鈥, then screaming 鈥淔uuuuuuuuuck!鈥澨齛t the top of my lungs.
Our Favorite Survival Books of All Time (in 15 Words or Less)
by Hampton Sides: If an eccentric millionaire ever invites you on an expedition to the Arctic…don鈥檛 go. 鈥擱eid Singer, associate editor
听by Jeff听VanderMeer: You鈥檙e focused on surviving Area X, but it鈥檚 not nature you need to worry about. 鈥擩enny Earnest, social media manager
听by John听Vaillant: Massive feline with a taste for human flesh goes on rampage. 鈥擩onah Ogles, articles editor
听by Bradford Angier: Because everyone should know how to make a and build a proper fire. 鈥擝ryan Rogala, video production manager
by Nathaniel Philbrick: Such brutal听descriptions of severe sunstroke that I couldn鈥檛 read without water and chapstick nearby. 鈥擶es Judd, assistant editor
by Gary Paulsen: More pilot skeletons than any middle schooler should have to witness, but still educational. 鈥擡rin Berger, associate editor
听by Jack London: Dog eats dog. Dog eats kibble. Dog eats snow. Dog eats, well… everything. 鈥擶ill Egensteiner, associate editor
by Joe Simpson: Iconic survival story on 21,000-foot Andean peak. Blizzards! Crevasse falls! Broken limbs! Hypothermia! Dehydration! 鈥擫uke Whelan, assistant editor
by Douglas Adams: We can only hope to have this much fun when the world ends. Timeless satire. 鈥擩ay Bouchard, editorial fellow