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The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes - and why [Paperback]

Amanda Ripley (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 2 April 2009

It was 8.46 a.m. on 9/11 when Elia Zedeño, who had worked in the World Trade Center for twenty-one years, heard a booming explosion and felt the building lurch violently to the south. She grabbed her desk, taking her feet off the floor, and screamed, 'What's happening?'

How would you react to a disaster? Would you be paralysed with fear? Would you panic and lose control? Or might you suddenly discover hidden strengths in yourself?

In The Unthinkable, award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley investigates some of the most harrowing catastrophes in history in order to piece together exactly how we react in a crisis. Through compelling interviews with survivors and experts she uncovers our instinctive reactions, shows how primitive parts of our brains take over when we're put under pressure, and demonstrates that we can, in fact, train ourselves to do better.

We all have a 'disaster personality' that reveals itself at moments of crisis. In The Unthinkable you can become acquainted with yours.Who knows? One day, understanding how it works may save your life.

Frequently Bought Together

The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes - and why + Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why + The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible
Price For All Three: £23.04

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow (2 April 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099525720
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099525721
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 2 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 106,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Amanda Ripley Page
Amanda Ripley
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Review

A must read. We need books like this to help us understand the world in which we live.

(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author Of 'the Black Swan' And 'fooled By Randomness' )

A fascinating book ... The Unthinkable is part study of the science of reaction to extreme fear, part indictment of the US government's response to the terrorist threat, part call to arms (Robert Crampton The Times )

Excellent and accessible study of how people react in disasters ... aside from the sound advice, one of the main strengths of this book is the wealth of anecdotal material and startling facts' 4 stars (London Lite )

Ripley's survey of a vast area of research is impressively handled and eminently readable and, should disaster strike, the insights she provides into how you and those around you may respond might just save your life (New Humanist )

Spiced with surprising factoids, this book might save your life one day. Just don't read it on a trans-Atlantic flight (Bloomberg )

Book Description

How will you react when disaster strikes?
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Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
14 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, informative and potentially life-saving 16 July 2008
By J. S. Hardman TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
After reading this book, not only will you listen to safety briefings on aircraft and evacuate the building when your company has a fire-drill, but you'll walk down the stairs from your room the first night in a new hotel, take the stairs once a week at your office and do a skid-pan session each year. Such simple things could save your life and the lives of people around you.

This book is divided into three main sections covering topics such as how people react to disasters and why some people survive when others don't, describing instincts that we have evolved over millennia that may unfortunately not be the right instincts for a modern world, how being in a group affects survival, what you can do to improve your chances etc. It almost apologetically covers the subjects of panic and heroism, apologetically as this book tries to present facts without sensationalising them.

All the way through, this book gives examples of disasters where each type of behaviour has been observed, the vast majority recent enough for me to remember seeing the news items at the time. Ms. Ripley also provides good notes and references to related materials - I'll certainly be following a few of them, including reading more about Rick Rescorla who helped save so many lives on 9/11.

That so many events are so recent helps make this book fascinating reading. Reading it could change your behaviour and could save your life.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A guide for life and living 17 July 2009
By Dave M TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This might not seem like holiday reading, but I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The book focuses on the psychology of the human mind in stressful situations and why it sometimes reacts in one way and sometimes in another. This has lessons for us all.

If you ever have to write instructions for use in an emergency, then some of the tips in this book will help you produce really effective instructions (e.g safety instructions or business continuity / disaster recovery plans).

If you are ever unfortunate enough to be in a life threatening situation then, having read this book, you might just make a better decision.

The style of this book is to look at case studies and examine who made good decisions, and who didn't; why they made those decisions; and how we can learn from the scenarios.

It has been said that the first few moments of life can be the most dangerous; in reality the last few can also be a bit dodgy. This book could make the difference to you !

Highly recommended.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Can Save Your Life, Let You Sleep Better at Night, and Learn How to Improve in All Areas 2 July 2008
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
This is the best non-fiction book you are likely to read this year.

I was attracted to this book because I have been in bad car accidents and two hotel fires, once had the airplane window near me break during a flight, designed the plan for an event where the safety team saved two children's lives, and have driven through many dangerous blizzards where every other car was spinning off the road out of control. From those experiences, I learned to appreciate that there were good and bad features about my reactions during those stressful times. I was also astonished to see how many people would have been injured or killed if someone hadn't taken fast and insistent action.

Needless to say, I'm convinced that I will have experiences like these again in the future and wanted to be better prepared. I was very pleased with what I learned as Ms. Ripley explained the psychology and physiology of dealing with various life-threatening situations. With this added information, I'm sure I'll make faster and better decisions in the future . . . and implement those decisions better.

Many books written by journalists about serious subjects don't get much below the surface of who, what, when, where, why, and how of events they wish to use as set pieces. Ms. Ripley is the happy exception to that rule. This author really thinks about what she is studying and went all over the world to gain more information. In addition, she writes well.

I was very impressed by how well she expressed the problem of human beings not knowing what to do if they haven't thought about a problem before or haven't had experience in an area. This is a subject of much interest to me because it is the main barrier to people grasping important opportunities that they are ignoring.

I hope that Ms. Ripley will consider writing a book that looks at why people don't seize opportunities when they are not in a threatening situation. I believe that her recommendations for better leadership, more preparation, clearer directions, advance experience with simulations, and knowing yourself better would apply to that class of problems as well. By combining the two perspectives, I think she could help us understand how to be more successful, as well as safer.

Brava, Ms. Ripley!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
I absolutely love this book. It has answered a lot of questions that I had and some I didn't know I had. Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. C. Chivers
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended (but wish Ripley were a more engaging writer)
First off, I would recommend this book to anyone purely on the basis that it contains information that everyone should know, this being - to quote a reviewer of a similar book... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Fruitella
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting book that will help me in a crisis
Some fascinating and surprising stories of how people react in a disaster. Hard to believe that freezing is more common than panicking but Ripley lays out the evidence. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2010 by D. Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
This book is totally amazing. The human mind is incredibly complex and we do things without knowing why or how. Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2009 by Mr. B. L. Foord
5.0 out of 5 stars A guide for life and living
This might not seem like holiday reading, but I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The book focuses on the psychology of the human mind in stressful situations... Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by Dave M
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but don't take the author hunting
This book is quite good, particularly if you'd like to evaluate yourself and understand how well you might do in a life-threatening emergency. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2008 by Michael W. Perry
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but don't take the author hunting
This book is quite good, particularly if you'd like to evaluate yourself and understand how well you might do in a life-threatening emergency. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2008 by Michael W. Perry
4.0 out of 5 stars And interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking read
This book is well written, very interesting with a wide range of factual reports and interviews from survivors and rescuers, and contains a lot of thought-provoking material. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2008 by Mr. RJ WILMSHURST
3.0 out of 5 stars Dry, go buy 'Deep Survival'
I think the premise of this book was really sound, and I was really excited about reading it. Regrettably, I had read it after reading Deep survival and as such I found... Read more
Published on 25 July 2008 by PureSymmetry
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but so dry.. go elsewhere
I think the premise of this book was really sound, and I was really excited about reading it. Regrettably, I had read it after reading Deep survival and as such I found... Read more
Published on 25 July 2008 by PureSymmetry
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