selintahtakilic

This is the second book I've read in recent memory about disaster survival, and by far it is the better and more memorable of the two. I think the thing I like the most about Ripley's book is that it has such a strong foundation in disaster science and psychology. I rarely felt like she was tossing out speculation. A lot of study has gone into the hows and whys of disaster survival; I feel like this book does a good job of encapsulating a large portion of that study into relatively short, easy-to-read chapters. I also like how Ripley laid out the chapters according not only to the most common human disaster responses, but in the chronological order in which one is most likely to experience such responses. Each chapter also includes at least one disaster to highlight the response she is discussing in that chapter. I'm so glad that books like this exist. I wish that more people would read them. It's hard to know how one is going to respond in a disaster, so it's good to be aware of what one's most likely response is going to be. Personally, I've always been afraid that I'd be one of those "do nothing" people who just sits there when disaster strikes and doesn't even bother to get out of her seat while the plane goes up in flames or the ship sinks under the waves. It's encouraging to know that the simple fact that I'm informed will likely prevent just such a scenario. Lastly, kudos to Ripley for including a couple of disasters that I had personally never heard of before. For a "disaster buff" like me, that was the highlight of my week!

2020-09-18 06:01