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The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible Hardcover – September 1, 2009

by John Geiger (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 227 ratings
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The Third Man Factor is an extraordinary account of how people at the very edge of death experience the sense of an unseen presence beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive. This incorporeal being offered them a feeling of hope, protection, and guidance, and left the person convinced he or she was not alone. There is a name for this phenomenon: It's called the Third Man Factor.

If only a handful of people had ever encountered the Third Man, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds. But over the years, the experience has occurred again and again, to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, sailors, shipwreck survivors, aviators, and astronauts. All have escaped traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having sensed the close presence of a helper or guardian. The force has been explained as everything from hallucination to divine intervention. Recent neurological research suggests something else.

Bestselling and award-winning author John Geiger has completed six years of physiological, psychological, and historical research on The Third Man. He blends his analysis with compelling human stories such as Ron diFrancesco, the last survivor out of the World Trade Center on 9/11; Ernest Shackleton, the legendary explorer whose account of the Third Man inspired T.S. Eliot to write of it in The Wasteland; Jerry Linenger, a NASA astronaut who experienced The Third Man while aboard the Mir space station-and many more.

Fascinating for any reader, The Third Man Factor at last explains this secret to survival, a Third Man who-in the words of famed climber Reinhold Messner-"leads you out of the impossible."
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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hachette Books
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2009
  5. Grade level
    10 and up
  6. Reading age
    15 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    5.88 x 1 x 8.63 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    1602861072
  9. ISBN-13
    978-1602861077
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A scientific mystery or divine intervention is how Geiger, the editorial board editor at the Globe and Mail and author of Frozen in Time, describes The Third Man Factor, the human knack of facing deprivation and possible death with an unseen presence pointing the path to survival. He researched these visitations for six years, chronicling their history in harrowing life-and-death events with mountaineers, sailors, divers, aviators and polar explorers. It is to Geiger's credit that he stresses the very human need to endure and survive through critical times in the included anecdotes over the sometimes convoluted scientific jargon, especially the gripping tales of the last 9/11 survivor Ron DiFrancesco, NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger aboard the Mir space station and merchant seaman Kenneth Cooke, who paddled in shark-infested waters. Whether this guardian angel factor is neurological or divine, Geiger's fresh, insightful book will tell readers things that are not easily explainable, but no less real for that. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Riveting...truly revelatory...an important book"―The Explorers Journal

"There is a curious force capable of guiding the destiny of men and women in extreme peril and John Geiger knows what it is."―Wade Davis, Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and author of The Serpent and the Rainbow

"With an irresistible blend of harrowing anecdotes and hard science, John Geiger unravels the mystery of how the mind copes under extreme duress and in the process sheds fresh light on what it is to be human. A compelling, moving read."―Carl Honoré, Author of In Pursuit of Slow and Under Pressure

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette Books (September 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1602861072
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1602861077
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 15 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 10 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.88 x 1 x 8.63 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 227 ratings

About the author

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John Geiger

John Geiger

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John Geiger is the bestselling author of The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible, and four other books of non-fiction, including the international bestseller Frozen In Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition, which describes the results of the Franklin Forensic Project. He also authored, with Dr Peter Suedfeld, the scholarly study, 'The Sensed Presence as a Coping Resource in Extreme Environments.' His latest book, The Angel Effect: We Are Not Alone, has just been released. Geiger's work has been translated into eleven languages.

He has lectured widely, including presenting talks at the National Arts Club, and the Explorers Club. He was a presenter at the 2009 ideaCity conference. His documentary film appearances include National Geographic Channel's "Explorer: The Angel Effect," which is based on The Third Man Factor, as well as PBS NOVA in "Arctic Passage", BBC4 in "Wilderness Explored: Arctic", The Discovery Channel in "Islands of Mystery: Dead Silence", and on Bravo! (Canada) in "FLicKeR."

Geiger was born in Ithaca, New York.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
227 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the accounts in the book astonishing and incredible. They also appreciate the excellent information about a very interesting subject. Readers describe the book as a good, fascinating, and wonderful read with an excellent list of notes for readers who want to delve further into the subject. They praise the writing quality as well-written.

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20 customers mention "Insight"16 positive4 negative

Customers find the accounts in the book astonishing and incredible. They say the book is well-written and thoroughly researched. Readers are also inspired by the tales of survival and the author's words on resilience.

"Just finished this remarkable book; it was hard to put down. Absolutely fascinating and very well researched...." Read more

"...These are extraordinary true stories from famous explorers and mountain climbers, first person accounts of visitations by angels that helped people..." Read more

"...The book is beautifully written, informative and thoroughly entertaining. And at times, difficult to put down. I recommend it highly." Read more

"...: mystical, psychological, physiological, neurological, theological, philosophical, social, anthropological, and even literary, in terms of Eliot..." Read more

19 customers mention "Readability"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating, wonderful, and entertaining. They appreciate the excellent notes for readers who want to delve further into the subject. Readers also mention the book is well worth buying.

"What a wonderful book!..." Read more

"This book is a pretty good read. The writing is good and flows well...." Read more

"...The book is beautifully written, informative and thoroughly entertaining. And at times, difficult to put down. I recommend it highly." Read more

"The book is wonderful because these stories are finally being told...." Read more

5 customers mention "Writing quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-written and thoroughly researched.

"This book is a pretty good read. The writing is good and flows well...." Read more

"...The book is beautifully written, informative and thoroughly entertaining. And at times, difficult to put down. I recommend it highly." Read more

"It is a very interesting subject, which is why I ordered the book. He writes well...." Read more

"Great book. Well written. Have always been fascinated by the strange and inexplicable. This book serves up a full course meal of that very thing." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

David J. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Fascinating & Truly Extraordinary!
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2024
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Just finished this remarkable book; it was hard to put down. Absolutely fascinating and very well researched. The author makes a strong case that temperal-paritial junction in the brain plays a major role in this phenomenon, and then delves deeper into the mystery and explores more spiritual possibilities. Astonishing accounts with incredible implications and most highly recommended!
3 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read in my life. Awesome true stories from famous mountain climbers.
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2023
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What a wonderful book! This book is in a class all by itself for giving the gift of bolstering our understanding of spiritual interventions in life and death situations. These are extraordinary true stories from famous explorers and mountain climbers, first person accounts of visitations by angels that helped people survive in hopeless situations. Especially compelling are the ones when a group of climbers ALL experienced the same phenomenon of getting help from a person who they later realized was never there in the flesh..
4 people found this helpful
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Caelo
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but no satisfying answers
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2009
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This book is a pretty good read. The writing is good and flows well. The author's purpose is to relate a series of seemingly unexplained events in which people experience the feeling or sensation of a mysterious person, the "Third Man", who seems to appear from nowhere, and arrives in time to assist in time of danger or extreme stress. Additionally, the author tries to suggest an explanation by relating a variety of answers provided by investigators.

Geiger has clearly studied the literature to cull out these many accounts, mainly of explorers but also others such as Ron DiFrancesco, who escaped from one of the 911 towers during its collapse. For me, the main interest of the book was in the numerous interesting accounts that were assembled here.

Are these entities manifestations of guardian spirits or angels, or something which emerges from the mind? The author seems to prefer the latter conclusion and adduces researchers who produce theories or evidence for the materialist conclusion. Mr. Geiger is too polite to clearly state this conclusion himself, so he lets the scientists do it for him. Against this latter hypothesis is the testimony of those who experienced the "Third Man". It seemed so real to them that most were reluctant to attribute it to a hallucination or other mental phenomenon; or if they thought so, they preferred not to dwell on that conclusion during their crises since the experience was so comforting and helpful to them.

As a believer in guardian angels, I would be inclined to attribute some of these manifestations to those beings; however, one strike against this is the fact that, with one exception, it seems that all of the accounts related here are subjective experiences only. The role of the Third Man seems to be to provide encouragement and hope, but not any physical support. This would be consistent with a purely materialist account of the phenomenon. On the contrary, the story of Joshua Slocum concerns a being who apparently navigated his ship for him through a tremendous storm while Slocum lay incapacitated. As reviewer C L notes, this happening cannot be explained away as a mere feeling. Somehow, that ship really avoided destruction. Mere chance doesn't seem to be the answer since the ship not only survived, but made a straight beeline on course through the storm. Not included in this book are numerous accounts of others like Slocum who can back up their experience with objective facts.

On the whole, there is not much support here for the religious believer. My own opinion is that some of these stories depict actual intervention by spirits and others are perhaps some form of mental coping. The neurological researchers seem to be able to induce this feeling of an unseen person by using electromagnetic fields applied to the brain. However, this doesn't conclusively show that these experiences are only mental. It has been shown that electrical stimulation of the brain can make one hear voices or produce certain emotional states. Clearly, we also hear voices because there really are people speaking and we feel emotions because of real events which cause them. So the induction of these effects in the lab is suggestive but is not very strong evidence.

One weakness of the book is that Geiger cannot decide whether these experiences are rare or common. All the discussion about stress and multiple triggers seems to lead to the conclusion that these are a rarity. Yet interspersed is some discussion about children and their imaginary friends (a common experience) and about a large percentage of widows sensing the presence of their dead spouse. Perhaps what he is saying is that everyone can/does experience a weak form of "The Third Man", but that when pushed hard (explorers), a strong form of the experience occurs. In any case this kind of implication is not clearly stated.

So, go ahead read and enjoy, but don't expect any strong arguments either pro or con vis-à-vis the supernaturalist/materialist debate.
20 people found this helpful
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S. Walton
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2022
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I found this book well written and thoroughly researched. It's about the limits of human endurance and a strange phenomenon that frequently occurs as people approach those limits. This phenomenon is referred to as The Third Man Factor, or the sense of another unseen presence, providing a sense of peace and often life saving guidance during perilous conditions. The book is beautifully written, informative and thoroughly entertaining. And at times, difficult to put down. I recommend it highly.
5 people found this helpful
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Annabelle Reeve
3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and funny
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2009
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The book is wonderful because these stories are finally being told. The general public has known about these third man episodes forever, but the scientific community bends over backwards trying to prove that they are just anomalies in our poor over-stressed brains. The book is also funny in that it describes all these ideas in excruciating detail and as the theories pile up they get more and more hilarious.

Why not just accept what most of us just take for granted: That all humans have spirit guides who watch over us throughout our lives. Sometimes bad things happen, which is the human condition, but at times of deep stress the membrane between the physical and spiritual can get very thin and allows us to experience our helpers and benefit from their assistance. The book ends with a brief nod to the possibility of guides or "angels", but it is so brief as to be inconsequential. I am most unhappy that the imaginary friends of young children are treated as mental aberrations constructed to counteract loneliness or abuse. It strikes me that young children are so open, so freshly arrived from spirit, that they are able to accept and enjoy the presence of their guides as playmates and helpers. Why not indeed?
7 people found this helpful
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Bethany
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2024
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Great book to read.
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mdallen
5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally moving and excellent information about a very interesting topic
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022
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A detailed overview with numerous examples and research studies of the third man factor. Amazing survival stories and their commonalities with a helpful essence.
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Top reviews from other countries

Peter k.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in Germany on November 27, 2023
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Probably the best book on the topic.
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Verified Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing revelation!
Reviewed in Canada on June 5, 2020
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Highly detailed account of amazing experiences of those involved in more extreme pursuits revolving around challenging world explorations, gruelling mountain climbing, super-human polar expeditions, etc. Undeniable experiences documented here, concerning a little known phenomenon known as "the third man"! I really learned something incredible with this one! Gripping!
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Lucy 21
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2020
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A wonderful book - a combination of gripping real life accounts of extreme situations, and fascinating scientific and psychological analysis of this phenomenon.
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Bob Sergeant
5.0 out of 5 stars The Third Man is First Rate
Reviewed in Canada on March 19, 2015
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I had heard about this 'mysterious stranger and benevolent helper in time of distress' phenomena many years ago, and am glad that Geiger wrote a whole book on this topic. I found the neurological research aspects, for example on hallucinations, to be very interesting, and compatible with the idea that a higher power may communicate with us in a life or death crisis, moment of desperation, ordeal, or grief, via the brain's cognitive systems and information processes, or that a higher power has hard-wired us to receive such experiences, or both. Thus, sensations of benevolent presences, visitations and helpful messages would necessarily involve stimulating brain activities, especially in the temporal parietal areas of the brain. Given the brain's fantastic complexities, a multitude of neural pathways may be involved in producing the combinations of sensations felt, visions seen, and messages heard. Geiger has done a great job relating first hand accounts of such mysterious experiences and discussing some of the fascinating research into the psychological and neurological correlates of these phenomena. The survival stories during which the third man phenomena have been experienced are gripping. I also highly recommend Geiger's "The Angel Effect" which is a sequel to this work.
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justme
5.0 out of 5 stars its amazing.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2015
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Incredible book. I read it years ago and could never forget it. I tried to order it and had no success until now. If you are interested in the unexplained and spiritual mysteries this book is captivating. Angel visitations with a twist. Extreme environments, hopeless situations and completely unfathomable events -I won't spoil it! Just buy it, its amazing.
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