Customer Reviews

Surviving the Extremes: What Happens to the Body and Mind at the Limits of Human Endurance

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After reading about Kenneth's' visits to the Amazon forest, underwater caves, and the top of Mount Everest, to name a few, you may be struck by the explorer bug too. Ken's main job on the excursions in this book is to act as main medical advisor, but thankfully, he is also a grade A writer. He recounts his trips; I will not spoil the book by recounting them here, from a mostly medical point of view. At heart Ken is a humanist seeking to find out how and why the few who choose to live in the extremes, (95% of the earth is uninhabitable by humans) do so. He goes into great depth describing the cultural and physical adaptations that people under-go. After many generations living a rough life natural selection has weeded the weak and stupid away leaving only the most suited for survival in any given "extreme" area of the world.

Don't let the title scare you off. This isn't a gimmick book that slathers its tile with the adjective "extreme", this is truly meant in a most literal fashion. If you are intrigued by the inner workings of the ER or even the TV show ER, then I would recommend this to you. If you have read the best seller "Into Thin-Air" by Jon Krakauer, you may be interested in the fact that Kenneth Kamler was the ill-fated expedition's doctor on the spot and he has recounted his point of view of the tragedy in one of the chapters.

Some of the places you'll visit and learn the many ways you can die (and the slim chances of your survival):
1. the Amazon jungle
2. lost at sea (above)
3. the heat of the desert
4. the pressure of the deep sea (below)
5. the top of Everest
6. and the vacuum of space

After you read this, you'll be able to amaze your friends with your knowledge of cannibalism and butt parasites.

Kamler's "Surviving the Extremes" is a complex blend of physiology, biochemistry, survival guidance in extreme circumstances, adventure medicine, and personal reflection, all under an umbrella of behavioral neurology. It is a fascinating work that streamlines its many foci into a stimulating Darwinian read that perhaps does simplify, at times, certain brain processes but does capture the overall gist. His writing conjures up potent images varying from the edge of the macabre to the tenderness of humans during times of extreme environmental, emotional, and physical stressors. Truly recommended for anyone interested in science or adventure!

What a great read. Dr. Kamler uses his medical background and personal high adventure experiences to write a highly entertaining and informative read that covers the entire gamut of human survival experiences...covering everything from high altitude, exposure, dehydration and submersion, and veering slightly into the macabre...even survival cannabalism.

It's obvious Kamler did his homework, not only in the breadth of material covered, but also in producing a high quality read, remaining ever hopeful about the human experience. He even offers some medical explanations about the mysterious "X Factor"...when people survive despite overwhelming odds to the contrary.

Don't read Deep Survival, which is a well intentioned yet misinformed rant, read this book.

First of all I must say I really liked the book: it is well written, amusing, and it is plain to see its author has made a serious effort to yield a good piece of work. But there are also some things that I disliked. For instance, Mr. Kamler turns a bit too often to narrating his own experiences which, though very interesting, fail to really fit in the general dicourse of the book, or are overextended (I found the jungle chapter most unbalanced with the rest, rather being the mere account of a personal experience). It is true that being a professional on this metier he can sure use a lot of his own life to picture what he discusses, but even so...

Nevertheless it is an interesting book, all in all worth reading, and certainly I did learn a lot of things or got a more scientific (being a book for the general reader, I mean) explanation to things I previously knew.

From survival in the depths of a South American jungle, to episodes of starvation and desolation of the high seas, to the vast range of extreme heat and cold desert temperatures, this read forces you to realize the challenges that the body and mind can overcome.

I gained a ton of knowledge nuggets from this book. I have to admit that the tales of survival and the ability to forge ahead when all else upends glued my attention throughout the read...(How to survive in a jungle hit me the most.)

This book is an intense yet fun read for survival in the elements, knowledge, and for uncovering facts about the extremes that a body can endure. When the mind believes something strongly enough, the mind can will the body to make it so.

Whether you're bonking deep into the running stage of a triathlon, or squandered in loneliness and desolation of working a deal filled with obstacles, the mind will overcome...and your body will follow.

Double thumbs-up for this read.

-BD

This is one of the best survival mechanics ever depicted. Dr. Kamler walks us through Amazon, Desert, High Altitude, Underwater, and even to outer space survival. Dr. Kamler's own involvement in many of the stories -- two Mt. Everest expeditions - including the ill-fated '96, to Amazon, and deep diving underwater; and his amazing ability to simplify the causality set this book completely apart from any other out there. I've read 'Deep Survival', 'Survivors Club', 'Into Thin Air' and many others but 'Surviving the Extremes' stands out the ultimate depiction of science of survival. What happens when we nearly die (the tunnel vision; hearing from close family); what gives us imperative to overcome or not; when evolutionary biology helps (e.g., in Jungle) and when it acts against (e.g., in Outer Space) and the ultimate power of "will" -- Dr. Kamler walks through like the best teacher you ever had mixing medicine, anatomy, evolutionary psychology, climate, technology and a unique writing style that would compete with popular screenwriters'.

Just understanding the "why" of Pulmonary edema and Coronary edema at high altitude is reason enough to buy this book and share it with anyone even remotely interested in science or generally knowing. But here are some of the key moments of the book --

-- How Amazonian Indians make curare from frog skin and mixes it with different chemicals to hunt different animals (and the description of 'shrunken head' process!)

-- Why you should NEVER skinny deep in Amazon river (no -- not Piranha)

-- Butt Bacteria

-- Why Camels have tall, lanky legs so apart from its torso (and so do many desert people)

-- What is the biochemistry of (a) drinking sea water and (b) drinking own urine

-- How humans differ from Dolphins deep under water and how evolution helped (hint: Myoglobin)

-- How Sherpas and some Indian tribes both adapted to very high altitude in completely different ways (bio-chemical changes vs. physiological changes)

-- How you can tell the depth of ocean a fish usually navigates by looking at its eyes

-- Why, if you dive too deep, you should never come up too soon (Hint: Soda pop)

-- Why Mothers insist on babies wearing a hat and a scarf in cold and not so much a pair of gloves (Hint: Carotid artery)

-- Why long starving people smell like Nail Polish remover (hint: Acetone)

-- Why divers breathing in pressured helix (Helium-Oxygen) may need help of a computer to understand what each is saying to other

Read this book!

The subtitle of Surviving the Extremes is "What Happens to the Body and Mind at the Limits of Human Endurance". And it more than delivers in that respect. The author, Dr Kenneth Kamler, has been to the Amazonian rainforest and on an Everest expedition and those parts are written from experience. But he discusses desert and underwater and high seas survival just as well.

The book examines the effects of environments in which the human body never adapted and was never meant to experience, much less live in. It also provides examples of people who both survived such conditions and those who succumbed. The saddest of the latter, to me, was the story of Audrey Mestre, who attempted to beat her own record for free diving by ascending from a depth of 166 metres.

Dr. Kamler explains the biological effects of such environments in detail. I loved those parts. From the atomic level up to the cellular, the book depicts how platelets and the immune system and the finely regulated chemistry of the brain respond to stress and starvation and lack of oxygen. Pulmonary edema due to the high altitude of Mount Everest, treating snakebite in the Amazon, how exactly camels thrive in the desert, it's all here.

The book even includes a chapter on what it might be like in outer space, as a member of an expedition to a distant star. Yes, that will carry its own biological and psychological risks.

My favorite chapter is the one about surviving in a desert, because I lived in the Middle East for 18 years. Granted, most of those were spent in an air-conditioned room rather than digging up roots in the bottom of a wadi to suck a few droplets of moisture from them. But not only is this book a fascinating read, I'd recommend it to any writers hoping to throw their characters into environmental danger zones.

You could learn ways to make it even more difficult for them.

A very knowledgable and entertaining read. Kenneth Kamler knows how to make science tick for laymen. The book gives you the excitement as when you read about traveling and adventures plus the medical science about how your body adjusts to the new environment.

I wanted to read a book about extreme conditions on earth. This book shows several different categories of extreme condition and in each section you really get the feel for the environment which is exactely what I wanted. You will also read about how the human body reacts and this which is very interesting and quite easy to understand if you pay attention (although one or two descriptions might have been a bit over the top). Nevertheless very entertaining and at the same time informative and fascinating. The book almost feels as a fiction at times although it is not. It was a very exciting read and I reccomend it highly! My favourite section must have been about the desert. =) (I gave this a weak 5 stars of 5 since it wasn't perfect in capturing the "I want to know what happens next feeling" in every part of every section, some parts in the sections were a bit slow, like in the section of the jungle, a bit too undramatic for me although it was interesting. It did hit it many enough times to deserve a 5 though.)

I enjoy the exciting adventures! Written with enthusiasm and awe of what the body is capable of. He is very adept at explaining, in layman's terms complex bodily functions. Very hard to put down!