Kay 's Reviews > The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why

I found this book very interesting. Although it may not, and is not expected to, save the reader from every possible disaster, for those disasters that may be survivable, this book addresses various human responses and how understanding these responses works to the reader's advantage. Some valuable 'take aways' include it will probably be other people who do the saving and not so much first responders who come later (although there certainly are cases where it was the first responders with the equipment and training who save people). The positive uptake is regular people are capable of far more than the authorities and even we expect although it's also true that in disasters, instead of panicking, many people chose to do nothing as in ignoring the disaster. The book is organized around various responses such as freezing, panicking, and heroism and includes survivor interviews. Back to panicking, this book gives a good explanation of those situations in which people panic as to what triggers it. Everyone needs an edge and I'm glad I read this to get an 'edge'. My rating is 5 stars.