Customer Reviews

Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance

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I make my home in a place that can challenge the human body. Alaska is a land of extremes-altitude, cold, sheer geological scale. Human survival in the Alaskan outdoors is dependent upon proper clothing and equipment, careful planning, and physical conditioning. But even then, people make mistakes and end up in trouble. Sometimes, they end up dead.

How does the human body cope with the effects of exhaustion, the extremes of hunger or thirst, the crushing pressure of the ocean's depths, and the burning heat of the barren desert? Microsurgeon Kenneth Kamler, MD has forged a career out of understanding the body's reactions to these extremes, and the medical procedures that can help when things go wrong.

Dr. Kamler was on Everest in 1996 during the tragic climb profiled in the books INTO THIN AIR and THE CLIMB, and in his own 1998 book A DOCTOR ON EVEREST. He treated climber Beck Weathers, the climber left for dead near the summit who survived terrible frostbite to his hands and face. He has performed intricate hand surgery in the mud of a rainforest jungle, and has treated a patient in an underwater habitat on the ocean floor. In his new book SURVIVING THE EXTREMES: A DOCTOR'S JOURNEY TO THE LIMITS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE, Dr. Kamler writes compellingly of the mental and physiological elements that combine to determine who lives and who dies when the human body is faced with extremes of altitude, temperature, heat, cold and pressure.

This book is fascinating, compelling, and explains what the concept of "survival" really means within the context of the body's ability (and failure) to cope with extreme environments. Do not miss it!

This is one of the most interesting books I have read in ages. I'll agree with the other reviewer that the jacket information is misleading. This isn't really a "thriller" as conventionally defined. The author shares some first person as well as historical anecdotes but this really is an incredible biology book, interweaving physiology with some evolutionary biology. A very thoughtful and well-written book! It leaves the reader with jaw-dropping respect for the human body and its ability to adapt to extreme situations. It also touches on the adaptations other animals have to routinely live in environments which are totally inhospitable to humans. It is just too bad that people are disappointed in it because it isn't what the jacket says it is. I have taught basic survival classes for teens and I'm really glad to have this book to recommend because it is a different slant compared to what is out there in survival literature. My teenage daughters read Into Thin Air in high school English and I just wish I had this book before the younger one did her paper last month on dehydration!

This is a book that ascertains that the human will and spirit,when challenged, can overcome insurmountable odds in the harshest of environments. Dr Kamler has written it in a very succint, easy to read manner. His scientific explanations on the physiology of the human body are very clear in plain English. The book takes us to the deepest ocean depths, vast expanses of the Sahara, Mt Everest and the dense forests of the Amazon.

The only minor complaint that I have is in a chapter where he talks about Mt Everest. He talks about an Indian (from India) team that was ahead of his group and he talks about the Indians (South American) in the same chapter. He refers to both groups of people as "Indians". It confused me but it did not deter me in reading further.

This book is a must read for anyone who loves the outdoors and nature.

While searching for additional Kamler works, I ran across the existing Amazon reviews and feel compelled to add a word or two.
I saw Dr. Kamler interviewed on television. I did not find him egocentric at all. But I was intrigued by the survival aspect of his work. As a result sought out the book (in hardback, which I very seldom do). I was more than pleased! Except best sellers and classics, I don't often read novels -- but this was far more exciting, adventurous, and inspiring than any novel I can recall reading.
I know nothing about phenomenal new medical technology. I dislike exercise, let alone serious physical conditioning! I've never traveled to a third world country, gone deeper into the ocean than snorkeling, or higher than Pike's Peak in a car. But Kamler's descriptions of places, environments and cultures I'll never see were riveting. He made advanced medical concepts simple to grasp, physical conditiioning admirable, and natural extremes of nature mind-boggling. His descriptions of natural beauty were stragely lyric. He truly changed the way I think about mankind. But the real value of this work is his focus on the ability of the human body, mind and spirit to understand, adapt, and survive the unimaginable. In that he is a master. I will continue to anticipate his future works!

For those unfamiliar with the author, Kenneth Kalmer was the only doctor on Mt Everest during the 1996 tragedy. This book touches on human physiology and how we adapt to and tolerate extremes in environmental conditions. It contains valuable information with which every adventurer should be acquainted. Though it is written for the layman, this is certainly not the kind of book you can read just before going to sleep. It's pretty heavy on scientific principles.
Dr Kalmer begins with the jungle environment, namely the Amazon forest and swamps. Though heat exhaustion can be a problem here, most of the hazards of this environment seem to come from the denizens of the jungle. Survivors in this environment need to keep a constant lookout for the anopheles mosquito (malaria), black caiman, anaconda, venomous snakes, poisonous frogs and caterpillars, schisto worm (liver parasite), stingray, electric eel and a most interesting creature called the candiru. This is actually a very tiny catfish which has a great affinity for salt. When an animal urinates under water, this tiny creature will follow the stream of urine and lodge itself in the animal's urethra. Surgery is required to remove it.

Ironically, the jungle is also a natural pharmacy that provides medicines to heal the sick as well as poisons for blowdart hunting. No wonder people still live there.

The next hostile environment is the open sea - endless stretches of water, not a drop of which can keep the castaway's body hydrated. Dr Kalmer gives many examples of how castaways survive. The world record is held by Chinese sailor Poon Lim, who drifted on a raft for 130 days without supplies. He collected rain water and used a spring in his torch to catch fish. Methods thought up by other survivors include using improvised solar-powered stoves to distill seawater. The physiology of salt intake, dehydration and starvation are presented along with some coverage on cannibalism at sea.

The scorching desert is an even more hostile environment that causes heat exhaustion, dehydration and starvation to set in even more rapidly. Dr Kalmer explains in detail how the body regulates temperature and maintains a constant internal environment. He also explains how this system can break down under extreme external temperature and dehydration. Death occurs with the loss of 15-20 litres of body fluids. However, defying the limits of human physiology, is one Mauro Prosperi, who claimed to have survived for 9 days in the desert without any water.

Diving medicine is a very big topic by itself, but Dr Kalmer gives us the essentials on what happens to the body during free diving, the mechanics of SCUBA as well as the causes of decompression sickness. As with the other environments, many examples of diving accidents along with a microscopic view of what went on inside the victims' bodies are presented.

High altitude medicine is one area where Dr Kalmer has the most firsthand experience. Bringing out actual situations he encountered on Himalayan expeditions, the author presents a flowing account of Himalayan expeditions alongside an "insiders'" view of the characters' bodies. The mechanics of AMS (acute mountain sickness), HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema), HACE (high altitude cerebral edema) and frostbite are neatly woven into the story. Dr Kalmer even proposes a somewhat controversial evolutionary advantage that the Sherpas may have over other people. Even more surprising but factually indisputable, is his mention of the "miraculous" survival of Beck Weathers and Pasang Sherpa.

The final chapter is really out of this world - space adventure. Space is the ultimate hostile environment combining extreme cold, extreme heat, vacuum and cosmic radiation from which the human body must be almost completely insulated. Topics covered include the physiological effects of G force and zero gravity. Also mentioned are research projects into building self-sufficient spacecrafts for interplanetary exploration. Interesting hypothetical situations are presented and Dr Kalmer manages not to bore the reader with his wit and humour.

You may or may not like this book, and it depends on whether or not you wish to know the medical reasoning behind what happens to the human body at its very extreme limits. Since I am interested in this I purchased this book. Dr. Kamler breaks it into 6 categories:

1) Jungle
2) High Seas
3) Desert
4) Underwater
5) High Altitude
6) Outer Space

I prefered 1, 2 and 5 the most. The medical explanations are actually quite interesting and usually not too dry for the casual reader of all things science related, like myself. If you have any experience in any of these extremes, like long distance running through the desert, then of course you might find those sections more interesting than I did. Since I was stuck on an 8 hour flight twice in 5 days and this book was my only reading material I finished it pretty quickly, but quite honestly, were it sitting on my nightstand it would have taken me some time to finish it I am guessing, as the subject matter at times tended to drag a bit in the medical explanations, (meaning some concentration required) but otherwise it is a quite interesting book, full of insight into the human medical condition and its remarkable ability to heal itself when faced with trauma or extreme weather conditions.

I have to start off by saying I picked this up as a random purchase while at a CD/book sale at my company. pretty much an impulse buy after already getting a DVD that I sort of wanted, and cheap. Well...

I think this is the first book I've picked up in a while, and maybe the first non-fiction one in even longer. It is definitely amazing. The idea that it is all firsthand stories, most from specific life experiences, is great. The detail and accuracy (i'll have to assume being that I'm not a doctor) is killer, and makes you think about what you really are capable of. Also a great reminder that we're living an illusing within the safety of civilization's confines for the most part.

The best thing is how you can learn to cope with extremes that you otherwise might just overreact and die if you don't keep a cool head and have some knowledge such as what is touched on in here.

I just wish it wasn't so short, cause it was great to have something like this to read.

First is the ostensible grounds for Kamler writing this book -- how the human body survives under the six extremes of jungle, high seas, desert, undersea, high altitude and outer space.

But secondarily, it's a look at the human determination and spirit to get to those six extremes.

Kamler has a lot of experience in some of these extremes and at least a bit in most others. As a member of the Explorers Club, and through other connections, he has some experience with the first five categories, including being on the ill-fated Beck Weathers/Rob Hall "Into Thin Air" (Jon Krakauer) Everest climb. With the last, he's done some on-Earth weightlessness work and talked with astronauts; a fair amount of it is psychological, not physiological, and specifically is such in the context of speculation about a manned journey to Mars.

Kamler also has plenty of statistics to liven up the pages, such as details of depressurization from the bends, highest G force ever undergone by an astronaut, and so forth.

National Geographic readers, hikers and adventurers of all types will love this book.

After reading Dr. Kamler's book, it is obvious that he is a rarity among his colleagues, delving into the most bizarre realms on Earth (and beyond). The author gives spectacular examples of human endurance and why the body functions as it does in these situations. Dr. Kamler explains bodily functions in a concise and easy to understand way (for those of us not trained in medicine) however I found the end of the book a bit weak. I won't give it away though, because overall I enjoyed the topic and writing style. This book is probably good for someone out of High School, at a College reading level.

I liked this book a lot. It had strengths and weaknesses; obviously the author is very knowledgable about an area of medicine that doesn't get much attention most of the time. Kamler is clearly a neat guy, with lively interests, and he seems to have been literally everywhere and done everything! But in reading his book I got the feeling that he is very, very, very impressed with himself. Sometimes the book seemed less about the physiology and environments than it was about the number of times that Kenneth Kamler, M.D. has saved the day. This could be a bit annoying at times.
The stuff I found most interesting was the material on the high elevation (particularly timely since a Canadian explorer just died on Mt Everest) and the "lost-at-sea" stuff. I thought the descriptions of how the body gradually shuts down under various circumstances were really interesting. I was a bit dismayed that there wasn't much about survival on polar expeditions, and I found a few minor technical errors here and there. A few pictures or diagrams would have added a lot to the text. But it was a very good book, and certainly kept me reading.