Customer Reviews

Survivor II: The Field Guide

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

 

 

Is it just me or is Mark Burnett getting further and further detached from reality (delusional as Rich Hatch would say)? Has he become so attached to his dramality projects that he no longer relates to the common masses who watch his shows? Does he not realize how obvious it is that he either wrote less of this book than his first one or that he wrote most of it and that's why it's just an extended brochure?

SURVIVOR: THE ULTIMATE GAME was an interesting book. It contained a lot of behind the scenes information and though you can't believe everything you read, it was intriguing. Even if you weren't a fan of the show you can pick up that book and have an enjoyable read. Not so with SURVIVOR II: THE FIELD GUIDE. If you have never seen an episode of either Survivor, you'll probably not enjoy this book. A lot of the stuff found in here can be found in the encyclopedia.

The chapter dealing with the end of the first show was a nice way to begin the book. The chapters dealing with the history of Australia, famous survivors, and the dangers of the outback were informative. Unfortunately, the character backgrounds and etcetra of the new contestants is lacking. There really isn't much here. There are a few tidbits scattered throughout, but for the most part, the contestant info (which should be the most interesting part of this book) is lacking. All in all, the book lives up to what the first few episodes of SURVIVOR II turned out to be: lots of movement, but not enough character.

This book will be extremely helpful to have next to you while you watch the show, especially at the beginning, before you get to remember all the contestants. It has has profiles, quotes and a psychiatrist's evaluations of all these people and even has what they think their strategy is going to be.There's a map and a scoresheet, too, if you really want to follow along.

The part with the contestants' strategies in their own words is pretty amusing, because they all believe they're going to win, and think that just because they watched the last season of Survivor, that they're not going to make the same mistakes.

It was also kind of cool to read the chapters by Mark Burnett about how the show got started and the fallout after the first Survivor finished.

"Survivor II: The Australian Outback" is over and done with, so why read "The Official Companion Book to the CBS Television Show"? Because if you were a devotee of the show you will find it interesting. The first section, "Survivor: Borneo," provides Mark Burnett's comments on the end game of the first "Survivor," looking at the last days, final tribal council, wrap party, and the show's premier as a prelude to casting the second series. The chapters providing "A Short History of the Land Down Under" and "The Playing Field" are concise but interesting looks at the playing field for the game with color photography similar to what we got during the series.

The information on "The Contestants" in Chapter Four is arguably more interesting to read after the show rather than before hand. The comments of the Casting Director and the Psychologist about Jerri, Colby and the rest of the cast are wonderfully ironic given the way the game played out. This is even truer about the final chapter on "Strategies," where we learn how each of the sixteen INTENDED to play the game (Jerri wants to "find a way of not being so controlling"). The Sixteen Strategies for Winning "Survivor" laid out by Burnett are certainly fodder for discussion around your own tribal fire.

But let's face it, the great thing about this Field Guide is reading about Jerri's intentions and self-image and comparing it with the "edited" product. You might get similar enjoyment reading about Tina, Elisabeth, Roger, Keith or whoever you favorites were (to win or to hate), but I cannot believe that there is anything as choice as what we see about the Wicked Witch of the Outback who insisted everything anybody did in the game was a strategic move, except, of course, for some of her kinder, gentler moments. This book would certainly be a fun read for anyone suffering from Survivor withdrawal.

If you follow the show this is an invaluable source of information that you won't see on the current show or find on the DVD. A nice summary of last season's show, how the current location was picked, information about the new cast, including the casting director's comments and the psych review, which is interesting to read now that the show has started to eliminate its players. Interesting commentary about 16 strategies to win the show, and advice for anyone applying for future shows. Full of color photos and a map of the current camp, this is an excellent book to have alongside while you're watching the Australian Survivor, or if you are infatuated with the show and want more informaiton.

I'd recommend this book to survivor fans because it provides background material in areas: (1) It describes the Australian locale in detail, with particular attention to the dangers; (2) It contains a cookbook of strategies people are using to win. Not that it recommends a particular strategy, but points them out. It also contains tips for applicants to future series.

This book differs from Burnett's previous book which was mainly a fill-in diary of the first series. I presume there such in the works for the second series.

This volume is roughly edited. It appears to be a rush job to capitalize on the second series.

Diehard fans of the show who criticized the first "Survivor" book will be happy to know that this volume picks up some of the slack for its predecessor: It describes the last few days on the island in detail and provides coverage of the last Tribal Council, with Sue's full speech included.

From there, however, it goes into tedious history about the Australian Outback itself and the production-based reason for picking the locale. This comprises the largest section of the book, and for those who aren't interested in geography and topography, it will be a boring read.

The section that most readers would be interested in is the section about the contestants of Survivor 2. Unfortunately, the material included here is hardly more extensive than the stuff you can read in magazine articles (and magazine articles cost less, might I add). The "psychological profiles" are hardly more than blurbs, and frankly, one doesn't need to be a psychologist to have given the same assessments of the contestants. Any person who has watched the first episode or two could've come up with the same "profiles."

All in all, I'd say it's worth checking out from the library or for browsing through while at your local bookstore, but this isn't one that you need to have in your home library-- unless you're hoping it'll be worth something as a collector's item. Maybe the complete, post-show Survivor 2 book will be better.

The book Survivor II: The Field Guide, purports to contain a psychological analysis of each contestant in Survivor II. Please be amazed at what was said about some of our contestants! I am not making this up, I promise it is in the book as purported psychological analysis.

Mike An entertainer...not threatening to other men..May make the final challenge because he is good at selling himself to others.

Mitchell Would delight his teammates with his humor....will use his resources well enough to get through.

Amber Not likely to last long.

Jerri Would surprise people by being competent, not just cute.

Debb Would become a competent member of her team. ....persistant and likable enough to be kept around.

Nick Would establish himself as a hardworking team member.

Kimmi Initially interesting and attractive to watch.

And Now , the piece de resistance. The prize winner for the most absurd statement made about a Survivor II contestant by the consulting psychologist:

Colby Would be ....valued for brute strength. May not make it to the end because he's insufficiently conniving.

Comments on the others? Regarding most of those I did not mention, the comments did not seem breathtakingly wrong or right. Regarding Kel? Let's just say he has had enough stupid and innaccurate statements made about him in print to last anyone two lifetimes.

People's quotes "in their own words" are even worse than the psychologist. In particular, Kel has said that he would not violate his ethics and would just not answer a direct question rather than tell a lie. They have him as saying "I won't answer direct questions." And the rest of the character assassination on him is particularly bad. I believe we are supposed to think he is a psycho out to scalp us.

If you want to think what Mark Burnett wants you to think, if you want to be misguided about how likely folk like Debb are to win, this is the book for you.

Be aware....Just because its in a book or newspaper, that does not make it true!

I made the mistake of reading Field Guide after Survivor II aired, but -- even if I had done so beforehand -- it likely would have been just as boring. Unlike Mark Burnett's first book, which was almost as exciting as the t.v. show, Field Guide contained 150 pages of pure filler. From its lame "strategy sessions" to its extremely generic contestant profiles to its plethora of full page photographs, this book was a waste of time, plain and simple.

For anyone who plans to try out for the next Survivor (or the one after that) this is a great book. It features questions asked of the castaways (for part two) when they were trying out for the show. It also has a list of the 16 different ways a person on Survivor might go about playing the game (being the entertainer or the snake) and the advantages and disadvantages of each one. For example the downfall of being trying to be the entertainer is that it gets old soon and no one likes a bad entertainer. Playing the snake (like Richard Hatch did in part one) worked once, but the book cautions that future contestants may try to find the snake early on and boot that person off. Buy this book now, if you want to apply and you will have a chance to have answers in advance in case you are interviewed by Mark Burnett.

Are you fascinated by the media circus that one simple television show has become? Then this is the book for you! This book covers ALL aspects of the Survivor phenomenon. It was fun to read on many levels, including things like a summary of Survivor I and continuing on to a brief history of Australia. For those interested in the mind game that Survivor became, the Contestant section even includes a profile of different personality types. There are lots of color pictures, and also 2 pullouts: one is a map of the area, and the other is a chart to keep track about who in your viewing group guesses right at Tribal Council each week. Overall, an excellent book!