Read 'Alive' this past weekend

Discussion in 'Survival Reading Room' started by melbo, Dec 10, 2010.


  1. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Uruguayan plane crash in the Andes.

    I'm still recovering. What a brutal time they had and the continued problems before a couple of them finally walked out. I wish I could 'unsee' some of the mental images I have in my head.

    Alive

    On October 12, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying a team of rugby players crashed in the remote snowy peaks of the Andes. Ten weeks later, only sixteen of the forty-five passengers were found alive. This is the story of those ten weeks spent in the shelter of the plane's fuselage without food and with scarcely any hope of a rescue. The survivors protected and helped one another, and came to the difficult conclusion that to live meant doing the unimaginable. Confronting nature at its most furious, two brave young men risked their lives to hike through the mountains looking for help -- and ultimately found it.

    This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
     
  2. alanz

    alanz Monkey+

    I vaguely remember the movie coming out when I was in highschool and my parents going on about how awful it was because cannibalism is wrong, etc.

    I might have to read this one. ;)
     
  3. Witch Doctor 01

    Witch Doctor 01 Mojo Maker

    I read the first edition haven't read this one... might get it from the library
     
  4. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    Everyone should read Alive, as it covers some of the most wrenching actual survival situations ever documented. (Not what, but who you eat, for example.) I'm a firm believer in reading as mental training - the more we read about such nasty scenarios - whether truth or fiction - the better we'll deal with whatever actually comes our way.

    That was the first "survival" book I ever read, as a teenager back in the 70's. Still have the hardcover - just looked at it and it's a first edition! I hadn't thought that far back, but I'm thinking "Alive" is what originally lit the preparedness flame in me.

    Never knew it was a movie - I tend to avoid movies whenever I've read the book, just to minimize disappointment. May have to track that one down and add it to the video library.
     
  5. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Never saw the movie. The copy I have is a mildew smelling old hardcover First edition that I found in the attic. I fly tomorrow and I think I'll pack a bone saw in my luggage.
     
  6. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    Heh! And a Wiggy's Ultima Thule sleeping bag for good measure!
     
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