Customer Reviews

Come Back Alive

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As a huge fan of Robert Young Pelton's World's Most Dangerous Places, I was really looking forward to reading this book. But while it was entertaining enough, I didn't feel that it was up to DP's usual standards...so I found myself being mildly disappointed.

I guess that when it comes down to it, I felt that the book was not meaty enough for a Pelton offering. The chapters were fairly short and I don't really feel that enough specifics were given about any given survival situation for the book to be truly useful in the field. Often, I felt like I was being given the "executive summary" rather than the specific details I would need to stay alive under trying circumstances.

Because I'm a DP fan, I know that Pelton can do better than this. This book won't stop me from reading other Pelton offerings, but I'm hoping that, like DP itself, it will evolve year by year and edition by edition into a truly excellent book.

I really disagree with most of the reviews here. I found this book fascinating and potentially useful. I live in the U.S., but if I were to travel anywhere outside the "First World", I would read this book 4-5 times. I can't really say about the rest of the chapters (not enough personal experience), but the chapter on self-defense is dead on. Most books will tell you that you can defened yourself well, but the reality is, as Pelton says, you are up against guys who: a. make a living 'jacking people', and b. are pre-prepared for the assault, whereas you are on your cell phone or counting your travelers checks. Very true. The cards are so stacked against you most of the time. This book is just trying to tell the truth about that, from Pelton's experience, and trying to give you some 'cards' so that you are not so outgunned. For example, his advice about "using a sense of humor" in the Third World to get out of jams is very useful, and could save lives. Just smiling at someone or making a hand gesture could save you. I have seen it in action myself, and have used it. Like I say, against someone bent on jacking you, your chances are slim, but in most other situations, humor could work. Like I said, if I had one book to take on a "Third World Tour", this would be it.

I would hope that a book with this title would at least have its facts straight, but with even my limited knowledge, I found errors in almost every chapter. Where were the editors and fact-checkers?? Some of the errors are just silly: "water weighs about sixty pounds a square foot" (!). Some of them are confusing: one tablet of Potable-Aqua "should disinfect about 16 liters of murky water" (the label calls for 2 tablets per quart!). It's not correct that 7.5-minute topos always have 20-foot contour lines (in fact, it varies, depending on local terrain). The advice on overheating is potentially life-threatening, since it doesn't give the simple and clear diagnostics that you'll find in any first-aid manual between heat prostration (pale and clammy... rest and drink fluids) and heatstroke (red and hot... call an ambulance, rather than fanning yourself, as the author recommends!). Get a copy of the Boy Scout Handbook instead of this book.

This book is long on humorous one liners and short on specifics. The amount of useful, hard, practical info could be put into a small pamphlet. It was a fairly enjoyable light read (I used it as a bathroom reader, sorry Robert) but I have in the past and plan in the future to travel to some of these places he mentions and I feel no better prepared for them. Perhaps it is good he does not instill a false sence of security in people by giving them clever 1,2,3 recipies for difficult situations. The one theme found throughout the book is "use your common sense." This is good advice, but then, I already knew that.

I've been relying on advice from this book and "Most Dangerous Places" for several years now. Although I wouldn't call it my "gospel" there are a lot of useful pieces of information that could save your life. Although I am not constantly exposed to life-threatening danger, my experience shows me that most accidents and mishaps occur to tourists because they drop their guard or get complacent. My advice is simple. Don't be paranoid, but never take personal security for granted - even if you are just going to the local shops...

The fact that we have little choice of material in this genre is the main reason a book like this sells. Sure, some of the information is entertaining, that's for sure, but mostly it's full of fluff, inaccuracies, and scant on precious details which would allow a novice or newbie to actually put the information to good use.

The fact that there is a lot of info on simpler topics (such as water purification and other 'jungle survival' stuff) doesn't quite make up for the fact that many of us will be roaming around the cities and villages of the developing world, and could use a little know-how in that area. Some is indeed offered, but it is riddled with factual error and often illustrates many a misconception on the part of the author.

RYP is definitely a powerhouse of knowledge on the subject of third-world travel, but this book almost looks like an early attempt at the topic, and definitely needed a LOT more work and research before publication.

But alas, there's not a whole lot out there to choose from. If you're going to the bush/desert, there are better guides out there. If you're going to the city, save your cash and do a web search instead.

Have to agree with one of the other reviewers that questioned the accuracy of the advice contained within. As a self defense instructor, former body guard and Foreign Legionnaire I was particularly interested in the chapters on self defense and kidnapping. Mr Pelton wheels out the old "you can kill someone by driving their nose through their brain." which is about as true to life as is "registering your hands with the police if you're a black belt." Ask any doctor, ramming the cartilage through the brain is a medical impossibility. The absolute best you could hope for is causing a sliver of the nose bone (where the cartilage joins) to penetrate the cribiform plate which would permit mucus to get into the brain fluid. Without medical attention the victim might eventually die of bacterial infection. Chances of pulling this off would be about 1 in a 100,000. He then claims this is the only way to kill someone with your barehands from the front. Please!! If you punch someone in the throat there's a very good chance you'll cause the trachea to collapse and they'll assume room temperature fairly rapidly. Same thing if you hit the xyphoid process hard enough. Next time Mr Pelton ventures outside of his specialty I suggest he call in the experts.

Have you ever been frustrated by those survival authors that go out into the woods and make treehouses, wells, and snares with only a Swiss Army Knife and make it sound like it's the easiest thing to do? Or self-defense gurus who make it sound like you could be Van Damme just by reading their books? Me too. Pelton is not one of these. He encourages "common sense". Something that's largely missing in many survival books. He gives handy survival tips you might actually use, like how to travel without checking luggage. Face it, it's unlikely your going to have to live like Tom Hanks from "Castaway" and if you do, all the survival books in the world will only help you so much. I'd recommend reading this book as a supplement to "Dangerous Places". You'll get more out of both that way.

Where else can you learn how to survive a grenade blast and a bad tortilla in the same book? Pelton (who is the author and obviously survivor of the World's Most Dangerous Places) takes a very different look at teaching how to stay alive and healthy. Instead of focusing on how to skin a moose he explains that bugs are far more nutritious and easier to catch. He deals with the real and not imagined perils of flying, war zones, kidnapping, the outdoors and of course travel. Unlike other manuals who assume you are hunting or on a secret military mission, Pelton shows us how to pack, how to bypass carry on rules, which seat is survivable, what food will sustain us, which people will kill us and what attitude will benefit us. Very sharp, very funny and unlike books that prey on people's fears. This book is written by a man who is afraid of nothing but careful of everything. Buy it for yourself, anyone you love and for a great read on that long plane flight to a third world hell hole. An instant classic (like his other guide to war zones) that will reset the standards for survival and travel guides.

Reading this book is like a review of common sense and then more, a lot more. An excellent way to pass on great knowledge to a traveling son or daughter that believe Mom and Dad "don't know anything, it's not really like that out there." Great wisdom for everyone to have, captured in an easy to understand format.