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The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why | 
 enlarge | Author: Amanda Ripley
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.61
You Save: $10.34 (41%)
New (26) Used (5) from $14.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 923
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0307352897
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.935
EAN: 9780307352897
ASIN: 0307352897
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It lurks in the corner of our imagination, almost beyond our ability to see it: the possibility that a tear in the fabric of life could open up without warning, upending a house, a skyscraper, or a civilization.
Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality–anything we’ve ever learned, thought, or dreamed of–ultimately matter?
Amanda Ripley, an award-winning journalist for Time magazine who has covered some of the most devastating disasters of our age, set out to discover what lies beyond fear and speculation. In this magnificent work of investigative journalism, Ripley retraces the human response to some of history’s epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917–one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic bomb–to a plane crash in England in 1985 that mystified investigators for years, to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Then, to understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts, formal and informal, from a Holocaust survivor who studies heroism to a master gunfighter who learned to overcome the effects of extreme fear.
Finally, Ripley steps into the dark corners of her own imagination, having her brain examined by military researchers and experiencing through realistic simulations what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire.
Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better, with just a little help.
The Unthinkable escorts us into the bleakest regions of our nightmares, flicks on a flashlight, and takes a steady look around. Then it leads us home, smarter and stronger than we were before.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 "The Unthinkable" - A must read! August 18, 2008
"The Unthinkable" logically deconstructs disasters and examines who survives and who doesn't. It provides a fantastic framework for examining risks in your life, and thinking about how best to surive these risks. It is not a doomsday book about stockpiling food in your basement bunker, but instead deals with a way to think about these situations beforehand, so that you will be better mentally prepared.
The book is well-written, and I had trouble putting it down. My wife is currently reading it, and enjoying it also. After reading this book I believe I will react differently if I am ever faced with a looming disaster scenario. I believe that everyone should read this book, and I am giving to my parents to read next.
 Slight content, more about interviews than the topic August 9, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
After reading the related Time magazine article "How to Survive a Disaster" (May 29/June 9, 2008), I read this book with great anticipation, only to be sorely disappointed. I found too little additional information in the book to warrant recommending reading it instead of, much less in addition to, the article.
If you are looking for "actionable" information, there is little more than what you will find in run-of-the-mill disaster preparedness pamphlets.
Neither can I recommend the book for "motivation" or "inspiration": The author's meandering style (repeated digressions, reiterations, irrelevancies,...) drains the narrative force from the events and the interviewees' experiences -- I repeatedly stopped reading in the middle of an account (I normally read several chapters at a time). However, if you read a few pages at a time, this may not register.
Rather than a book on the topic, it is a more of an account of a series of the interviews on this topic, for example, describing the room in which an interview was conducted decades after the event. Although focusing on a few participants in an event is often used to provide the skeleton on which to build, this book doesn't flesh out the skeleton with the expected related examples, analysis and synthesis. Interesting and relevant topics are mentioned only in passing instead of being explored and tied into the larger narrative. My impression is that the author is much more interested in talking to people about the topic than in the topic itself.
A friend who is less goal-directed than me said that, although the content was "slight," the book was "generally entertaining" with sections that were "flat." She too was very disappointed by the many unexplored topics and missed opportunities. (She and I participate in a citizens' group promoting the role of residents in our city's disaster plans and prep)
If you are involved in disaster preparations, the alluded-to topics might help you organize and articulate your experiences and thoughts by triggering memories in a useful way. If you are newly interested, these brief mentions might prime you to better recognize and comprehend these topics in future readings and discussions. Despite this, it is impossible for me to recommend a book for what it skips past.
Comments on chapters:
Risk: I have read many good introductions on how people assess risk. With so many examples and templates available, I was surprised that the chapter here was poorly rendered and very incomplete.
Panic: If you--like me--deal with officials who (mistakenly) believe that widespread panic is likely to occur in most disasters, then you may find the chapter on panic useful. Not because it's particularly good, but because panic is so poorly treated in so much of the accessible literature (typically little more than "panic is rare"). I was disappointed that the book presents stampedes/crushes as instances of panic. In many cases, the individuals seem to be acting rationally (irrational action is the core of "panic") based upon their local circumstances, unaware of the global situation and how the cumulative effects of those local actions are harmful.
Errata: pg 219: A referenced website has moved. The domain for "ReallyReady" no longer exists but its content can be accessed at the FAS site in subdirectory "reallyready" (Can't be specific: Amazon prohibits external URLs in reviews for legitimate security reasons).
 She keeps talking about evolution..... August 8, 2008
3 out of 17 found this review helpful
The author keeps getting stuck in evolutionary history and whenever I read the word, my brain shuts off. "Our evolutionary (fill in the blank) takes over and...."
If I 'evolved' from the ocean or wherever, why is it I don't feel comfortable swimming? Unfortunately, I didn't see that she was a New York Times Columnist until I had purchased the book. That about ruined it for me. It also explained her obsession with evolution.
By that time, I'd also ordered the book for my daughter because she'd been involved in a plane incident a few days earlier. The only thing I can see that 'helps' is the combat breathing part. Other than that, it's not worth the price. If you have to read it, go to the libary.
Becoming a survivor instead of a statistic... July 31, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
So you find yourself in the midst of a 9/11-type disaster or a natural disaster like an earthquake. Observing from a distance, it's easy to second-guess the decisions of those whose lives are threatened. You think you'd be far more decisive and intelligent. But would you? Amanda Ripley examines that question in her book The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. It's an excellent read on the different forces at play in disaster scenarios, and how come your "expected" response may not be anywhere close to what you actually end up doing.
Contents:
Introduction: "Life Becomes Like Molten Metal"
Part 1 - Denial: Delay - Procrastinating in Tower 1; Risk - Gambling in New Orleans
Part 2 - Deliberation: Fear - The Body and Mind of a Hostage; Resilience - Staying Cool in Jerusalem; Groupthink - Role Playing at the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire
Part 3 - The Decisive Moment: Panic - A Stampede on Holy Ground; Paralysis - Playing Dead in French Class; Heroism - A Suicide Attempt on the Potomac River
Conclusion - Making New Instincts
Author's Note; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Index
Ripley uses the stories of individual survivors (and a few who didn't make it) to analyze how our minds react to an unexpected traumatic experience. She frames the responses as three phases of something called a Survival Arc, which make up the flow of the book. The denial phase happens immediately after the event occurs. We rationalize away the most logical explanations and attempt to paint the event in terms of what we consider normal. This is why we ignore fire drills and don't exhibit any urgency in the face of impending danger like fire or hurricanes. After denial (assuming that denial doesn't end up killing you), we move into the deliberation phase. We've accepted that things aren't "normal", but we're still not sure what to do about it. Some become docile and follow anyone who seems to have a plan, regardless of how smart or idiotic it may be. Others step out of their assigned roles and become leaders, herding people to safety although it's not their "job". After deliberation comes the decisive moment, the time when you take action and commit to a course of action. Many believe that panic is the most common reaction. But in reality, many groups tend to stay calm for various reasons. In the "hero" category is the person who puts themselves at risk of death to save others, regardless of how hopeless the odds may seem. What's strange is the reason why people would do this. It's not the "I wanted to be a hero" mindset in many cases. Instead, it's the "I couldn't live with myself if I didn't" feeling. Finally, Ripley wraps up the book with examples of how training and teaching can alter the outcome of a disaster, and get people to react in ways that can save their lives with only a few simple changes in thinking.
This is an excellent book for the times we live in. We go about our lives, expecting everything to be "normal". But there's absolutely no guarantee that your day in the office won't turn into a life-or-death struggle that you are completely unprepared to handle. Just the simple knowledge of these phases can go a long way towards making you aware of your surroundings, as well as giving you the proper understanding of what's happening to others around you. If you take the time to incorporate Ripley's insights into your mental framework, you'll up your odds significantly in terms of being a survivor instead of a statistic.
Mom Becomes Spellbound July 29, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Just a mom here who likes to read about real stuff. I found this book immensley interesting and usefull. No one really knows how they will react under duress or in emergencies but I hope I now know what to avoid if I'm able to function. Most interesting was the impact that one person can have especially by yelling to pull people out of fright stupor. Loved the read about heroes!
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