Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - The Unthinkable

"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.

I have read many books around disasters, crisis care and the like. Amanda Ripley is an outstanding writer: engaging, compelling and clear. She has done a very thorough research of human behavior in the midst of disasters. Absolutely a must-read for those who work with community safety and disaster response.

This writer really knows how to hold onto your attention. What a book. She writes with many facts and a little humor. It's amazing to me how our brains work.I loved all the stories. The psychology was good too. I absolutely have no idea how I would respond in an emergency. Hope I never do......

Thought provoking, informative, and sobering; since most people experience traumatic incidents at some point in their lives, it applies universally. Great for professors, teachers, and people in the counseling and helping professions.

This is a terrific book. Made me understand some things about b behavior and it also
made me more aware. More awareness, to my mind, means more safety. The book
arrived in perfect shape and was packaged securely. Thank you for great service.

This was a great read. The details of the disasters and the in depth explanations from the survivors and professional studies was eye-opening.
This book also puts into perspective your life situations and how you can think clearly and more open to possible disasters. It gives you ideas that you can incorporate into your personal and work life if disaster were to strike. It helps you to see how easy it is to panic and forget what you need to do in these types of situations. It really opened my eyes. I definitely recommend this book.

I work for a hospital and recently attended a training on active shooter.. One of the speakers recommended this nook (not related to author). It talks about why some people survive and others don't.. Eventhough in same circumstances.. Good info

What would you do if you knew that disaster could strike at any time? Would you train for it? Would you try to convince yourself that it won’t happen? Even when it does happen, would you pretend that everything is just fine? In the Unthinkable, Amanda Ripley does a pretty good job of laying out a lot of information on how others have answered these questions both before and after a crisis.

Analyzing multiple scenarios that include shootouts, kidnapping, panicking mobs and even 9/11, she talks to the survivors about what their behavior was as well as the observations of the behaviors of the victims that did not make it out alive. There is a very in depth look at the psychology of the Fight, Flight or Freeze condition that we as humans often find ourselves in. There is also a fairly spansive look at what I have referred to as Normalcy Bias. Normalcy Bias is essentially when you have a predisposition to believe that nothing other than what could normally happen is happening. “That wasn’t a plane hitting the building. It’s probably just another one of those damn drills.”

In the interviews with the 9/11 survivors it is amazing the amount of people that even in the situation, refused to believe that anything could be really wrong. There is a great analysis of one company that was inside Tower “?” Who had appointed a safety officer that took the job very seriously and made the rest of the office (much to their chagrin) run constant drills on egressing the building. When disaster did strike, there was a fair amount of grumbling and belly-aching but their evacuation response was quick and calculated. Unlike many other poor souls who brushed things off as just another annoying drill just a little too long and found themselves trapped among the collapsing floors.

Others that do not have the Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Denial could go into a “disconnect” mode. It’s not like the Freeze when the panic and fear binds and immobilizes you. It’s more like the state of shock that detaches all of your emotions. There are multiple cases where this disconnect runs through multiple levels of functionality. Some were able to function completely normally, save the presence of any emotion. Others became nearly catatonic. Some of the folk that went through the disconnect actually saved quite a few people lives. They stated that they saw someone that needed help and they helped them. Not because they had any sort of drive to do so, but because “that’s just what you do, right?” It was more like they were following a social rule than being heroic. Not to discount the heroism of anyone involved in the tragedy.

One of the things that stands out to me the most about this book is that most people that had base level training were able to respond with a fair amount of efficacy. Whether it was an evacuation or a kidnapping, people that have had even the tiniest bit of training seemed to be just a little better off than those who did not. The folks that have a lot of training though were the ones that, on average, seemed to respond the best.

What I get out of this book is not what to do when a disaster strikes. What I get is what I should do before disaster strikes. Training, training, training is what we should be doing all the time. Yeah, it’s okay to let your mind relax and decompress a little here and there. Just don’t let decompressing become a favorite pastime. A little unwinding is good from time to time is okay but if that’s what you do for six hours every night in front of the television and twelve hours on weekends you contribute nothing to yourself.

Being a Bad Ass means that you can respond in emergencies. When the stress levels start to rise, your mind sharpens and you can focus on what the right response will be. Just a few minutes a day, spread out through the day, can mentally prepare you for the crisis. If there is a safety manual take a minute to read it. If there is an evacuation route, take a minute figure out where it actually says to go. When we go under stress we revert back to our base level training. If our base level of training is a base knowledge of the appropriate planned response, you give yourself an edge and you might just save some lives.

-chuck

This review was taken from The Art of Bad Ass website at theartofbadass.com

This is the easiest way to learn this information, just put a CD in the car and listen as you drive. There is a ton of information in this book. In this day and time, we need to be emotionally as well as physically prepared at all times, in order to survive the unthinkable.

This is an outstanding book for anybody directly involved in emergency service work as I am as a volunteer firefighter or for anyone who may be caught in a life threatening situation and really that is anyone.

Informative, yet entertaining read that kept my interest to the end. Made me ask often how I would have acted in the stories described and made me wonder if after reading this I could better control what my response should be. I believe so. Worth a read regardless of your back ground.

I found this book to be very enlightening about how we respond to disasters and some of the mental science involved in some of the worlds worst disasters. A must read for anyone involved or interested in survival or disaster relief.

This book covers many types of disasters and what people do wrong, and right, in those situations. Super resource that really makes you think about how you might handle yourself in disaster situations.

This should be required reading for all adults.

Adding to what I wrote: I went through a strong earthquake that resulted in the meltdown of a nuclear power plant and radioactive water., loss of gas (transportation) and dwindling food. A few years later our building, holding hundreds of people, had an electrical fire. Which could have resulted in the whole building burning in a flash. How do you react when disaster or potential strikes?

The point of the book is how you should react in a potential emergency. Do you scream, cry, become paralyzed or do you follow the crowd or follow the instructions of someone who is not cautious and concerned for your safety? I have seen all of these reactions of the people above.

I had been trained to stop and consider what to do. As such I had prepared for an earthquake disaster so I was not panicking like friends and co-workers around me.

When the fire happened in our building, an authority figure announced that we should all stay where we were while they checked to see how bad the fire was. I had read this book by then, and if it taught me nothing else, it taught me that it is better to err on the side of caution and evacuate. If, even to the naked eye, the fire did not seem bad, there was the possibility it could explode through the building in a heartbeat. The possible deaths and injury of hundreds of people could be avoided by evacuation. I ran to our boss and told him why we should evacuate and we did evacuate inconveniencing us for less than an hour.

Point: You decide ahead of a problem how you will react in a disaster or possible disaster. Be cautious. If you already know what you are going to do when a situation arises, you may save your life and the lives of others.

If you are looking to be entertained or an instruction manual on what to do, this is not your book. This is a book of cautionary tales. Moral of the story: Prepare your mind ahead of time so you can think for yourself and react to a life threatening situation.

Husband and I read it together and he immediately ordered 10 more to loan out to friends and neighbors. We keep them circulating as this is a well-written and highly informative book for those who care to prepare.

This book was recommended by the individual who is the head of emergency communications of an international organization involved in, among other things, helping people overcome diasasterous situations, so of course we got it right away. It's a "can't put it down" read----a book that ought to be required reading for every adult and older teen.

Husband and I read it together and he immediately ordered 10 more to loan out to friends and neighbors. We keep them circulating as this is a well-written and highly informative book for those who care to prepare.

This book was recommended by the individual who is the head of emergency communications of an international organization involved in, among other things, helping people overcome diasasterous situations, so of course we got it right away. It's a "can't put it down" read----a book that ought to be required reading for every adult and older teen.

"The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why", shows that people don’t always react the way you’d expect, but that you can train yourself to improve your odds in a disaster. 5 stars.

It is fascinating how Amanda is capable of keeping your attention from the first to the last page. It has been a while since I have found such well written book on such interesting topic. Not to mention how deep she goes on the investigations, details and interviews.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in surviving the hazards of life. It is well written, entertaining, and useful. Not only did it teach me something about human risk behavior it also promoted me to check my smoke alarms and gave me hope for the survival of humanity.

This is a brilliant book about the human factors that affect people in disaster situations. It'll give you a new outlook on disasters and you'll soon find yourself looking forward to fire drills (or even creating your own). Very well written and has some truly sobering stories that are followed up with easily understood explanations of why some people survive and some people don't.

Extremely well written and a fast read.

This book will make you realize that seconds count when tragedy strikes. Unless you understand what your mind (and others) goes through during a crisis, you may not get our alive.

Required reading for those who travel or live/work in high-rise buildings.

I work in Emergency Preparedness, and our copy has been passed around, sent home and returned. It sits on the desk as a reference when we write materials for individual preparedness.
At a recent Shared Strategies for Homeland Security Conference, this book was quoted and discussed. Amanda is one of the people helping to shape and inform the discussions we in Emergency Management have around this subject, and for that she is to be congratulated.

The book was very informative on what people thought as they moved through their immediate thoughts they had from the denial, to stopping to pick up personal items, and moving to joining a crowd for decision making on what to do.

A great book if you want to understand the psychology of disaster. Each chapter is just a great tool for anyone to learn the how to survive any situation and to be savvy in any other unexpected thing that can happen.