How to Survive: Self-Reliance in Extreme Circumstances

Book excerpt: Gripping stories of near disaster and survival—and the lessons to be gleaned from them—from the British military’s chief survival instructor. When faced with near death, your survival instincts kick in. Instincts can only take you so far, however; it’s preparation and planning that can make the difference between living and dying. In How to Survive, readers will hear harrowing tales of survival and learn from them. These stories are broken down and studied, whether it’s the experience of a teenager hiking to safety as the only survivor of a plane crash in the Peruvian Amazon, a fisherman drifting for more than 400 days in an open boat across the Pacific Ocean, or a US Air Force fighter pilot forced to eject from his stealth fighter thousands of feet above the earth. John Hudson, a military survivor instructor, introduces the mindset that he feels is imperative for success: the Survival Triangle. This combination of effort, hope, and goals, along with a few practical skills, provides a premade planning template that can be used to jumpstart the whole survival process.