Reddit Reddit reviews The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why

We found 21 Reddit comments about The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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21 Reddit comments about The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why:

u/JBlitzen · 141 pointsr/instant_regret

Read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Unthinkable-Survives-When-Disaster-Strikes/dp/0307352900

It is extraordinarily well researched and may be the first comprehensive multidisciplinary examination of how people actually behave in emergencies and why.

Most of our assumptions are completely wrong.

Yelling fire in a crowded theater is an obvious one. Nobody would do shit. And that's how hundreds of people die in frequent mass fires.

As a result of their own research (usually not shared with fire departments and such), NTSB trains flight attendants to yell and swear at passengers to get their subconscious minds to recognize that something is actually wrong.

Another tidbit is about police firearm training. Again, not normally shared outside one department. The instructor tried moving from a "follow these steps or you'll get shot" speech style to a "follow these steps and you will stop the threat and be safe" style. And that tiny shift alone resulted in a huge improvement in the performance of officers he'd trained who find themselves in a shootout.

Some part of our mind in an emergency tunes out every thought except for what it clearly connects with success and survival, so that simple speech shift makes sure the mind retreats to sight picture and trigger control, rather than panicking.

I even notice it in video games now, I get surrounded and panic and my mind settles on "okay if I just put the sights on that guy and fire, I'll be safe". And it makes a huge difference.

The examples and lessons and conmections just go on and on, the book should be required reading for everyone who might someday face an emergency situation.

Which is everyone.

u/EnginerdAlert · 20 pointsr/pics

Read "The Unthinkable". It's a great book that goes into great detail about humans' reactions in traumatic situations. I found it to be very interesting.

u/minibuster · 9 pointsr/changemyview

The root comment made me think of a book called The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes. One of the chapters was about a grandfather in New Orleans who ignored the news telling people to evacuate before Katrina struck, because as long as they could remember, reports about hurricane emergencies were always way overblown. The family pleaded with him to reconsider, but this only made him more stubborn. They ended up evacuating without him because he refused to get into the car. By the time he realized that he was in way over his head, it was too late for anyone to go back and get him. He didn't survive the storm.

Just because someone can point out times in the past that scares have been overblown doesn't mean the current scare isn't real and worth considering. It should be considered in isolation of past events. Otherwise, this would imply that nothing bad could ever happen, as long as nothing bad ever happened before...

As for how to filter the signal from the noise, since someone is always predicting the end of the world somewhere, climate change has scientific consensus, which you can easily confirm via reputable sources.

u/Superflybriguy · 9 pointsr/CampingandHiking

Great points!

I would add to your post, that the #1 enabler to surviving is how quickly you recognize and accept the fact that you are, indeed, in a survival situation.

The point in time that you make a conscious decision to acknowledge that your fun weekend is now threatening your life is critical to preventing you from continuing to compound the situation by making more bad decisions.

Experience and awareness are key.

Recommend this book...it's a page turner and one that I read at least once per year: http://www.amazon.com/The-Unthinkable-Survives-Disaster-Strikes/dp/0307352900

u/lifeofthunder · 9 pointsr/IAmA

You might be interested to know that being "aggressive" actually saves lives in disaster situations. From Amada Ripley's book, The Unthinkable:

>In a series of experiments, safety officials ran regular people through mock evacuations from planes. The trials weren't nearly as stressful as real evacuations, of course, but it didn't matter. People, especially women, hesitated for a surprisingly long time before jumping onto the slide. That pause slowed the evacuation for everyone. But there was a way to get people to move faster. If a flight attendant stood at the exit and screamed at people to jump, the pause all but disappeared, the researchers found. In fact, if flight attendants did not aggressively direct the evacuation, they might as well have not been there at all. A study by the Cranfield Aviation Safety Centere found that many people moved just as slowly for polite and calm flight attendants as they did when there were no flight attendants present.

u/[deleted] · 5 pointsr/PurplePillDebate

Freezing up is actually the most common response in ANY survival situation - including plane crashes and building fires. A lot of people, men and women, die because they just sit there. And if the person has someone (like a chaperone) who they expect to take responsibility for them, this effect only gets worse because the chaperone may also freeze up. Because the chaperone is in a position of responsibility, it's almost guaranteed that the person they are responsible for will not do anything in that situation unless the chaperone told them to. The chaperone must be VERY well trained in order to take care of themselves AND another person.

Training each individual person to be responsible for their own outcome is by far the best solution, and this holds true even in large groups where it was often thought better to train a few people to be "in charge" and let them guide the rest. Example: A company that resided just below the plane crash site of one of the world trade center buildings managed to safely evacuate every single employee before the tower collapse, because every single employee was required to be trained in how to evacuate the building. Companies on lower floors that didn't train their employees like that lost people in the collapse.

The problem is that women are not trained to react and take responsibility for these situations as well as men are. Having men chaperone would not only put the men in more danger (caring for his own problems and the woman's) but would basically ensure that the women act helpless. Training women to take responsibility for their own dang selves is the best solution.

(I'm actually really interested in self-defense/survival as a topic. This is a great book at the source for some of my claims.)

u/truckstruck · 5 pointsr/Survival

I thought this book was very interesting. It cites specific examples from a variety of disasters, and had a very sociological feel.

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - And Why

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307352900?pc_redir=1411841809&robot_redir=1

u/erinaceus-europaeus · 5 pointsr/worldnews

I read this book recently called The Unthinkable which is all about how people react to disaster (plane crashes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks etc etc) - how and why some people freeze, some panic, some remain clear-headed. Obviously reading first-hand accounts of plane crashes might be the worst possible thing for you, but personally I found it kind of reassuring to learn exactly what the ideal response is should the worst happen. I feel more prepared knowing that I've thought about what I'd do in various worst-case-scenarios, and that people who have thought out a plan in advance are more likely to react quickly and get out okay. Might be worth a look if you think that kind of thing might help.

u/Kemah · 4 pointsr/AskWomen

Been loving the responses so far! My own preferences have been changing, and I've been reading a lot more non-fiction than I used to. It has really opened the doors to a lot of books I would not have considered reading before!

On my reading list:

The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley - this is what I'm almost finished with now. It has been a really insightful read on how little prepared society is for disasters, and the steps we should take to help fix that.

The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker - I've seen this mentioned on reddit a few times and it's in the same vein as the book I'm currently reading.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - I'm currently working in the startup industry, and have read similar books to this.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - same as the book above. This is currently going around my office right now so I should be reading it soon!

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. - this was recommended to me by a friend when he learned I was reading The Unthinkable and The Gift of Fear. Honestly really looking forward to reading this one!

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society


Books I'd recommend:

Blink by Malcom Gladwell - all about the subconscious mind and the clues we pick up without realizing it. Pretty sure reading this book has helped me out in weird situations.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance - amazing read about how Elon Musk works and the person he is.

The Circle by Dave Eggers - just don't watch the movie :)



u/mittenthemagnificent · 4 pointsr/todayilearned

I just read this, and I don't think it has much to do with danger being there in our lives or not. It's preprogrammed into our genetic code (at least for most of us) to go through several stages in a disaster. The author calls them "denial, deliberation and decision." Denial can last for a very long time, as can deliberation (which is mostly marked by people freezing until their brains process what is happening). Some people essentially skip those steps and go straight to acting. It's based on something in who we are, and varies from situation to situation.

She has a story in there about a woman who was in the Twin Towers for the 1993 bombing, and who STILL froze during 9/11, despite having been through an evacuation before. So it isn't about having danger or not having danger around. It's about our personalities. There are things one can do to be better prepared in an emergency, of course, but in the end, biology mostly determines how we react.

It's a great read.

u/GSnow · 3 pointsr/tipofmytongue

Deep Survival, by Laurence Gonzalez, perhaps?

Edit: the other one I know of which is along those lines is "The Unthinkable" by Amanda Ripley

u/StickyElephant · 3 pointsr/news

Then don't criticize the poor man. You don't know what it's like to be in that situation, you don't know how you'd react.

People respond differently to crisis situations. Some people go straight into "fight or flight", some people freeze, some people go into denial.

I'd recommend The Unthinkable for a little education on the matter.

u/lennarn · 3 pointsr/worldnews

I think much of the psychological terror aspect of an airplane bombing or hijacking comes from how easily you can imagine the sense of being trapped inside, helplessly knowing your death is close. I read a book that said something along these lines, albeit talking about accidents: The Unthinkable.

u/PerseP · 2 pointsr/Survival

I didn't like that book much, too many personal references to his personal life and to Chinese proverbs. A much better one is (The Unthinkable)[http://www.amazon.com/The-Unthinkable-Survives-Disaster-Strikes/dp/0307352900/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369393218&sr=8-1&keywords=the+unthinkable] b y Amanda Ripley

u/princess-smartypants · 2 pointsr/books

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes by Amanda Ripley made me understand why people don't behave rationally in emergency situations

Edit to add: We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren. The author, a veteran Foreign Service worker, chronicles his time in Iraq. Explains why war costs so much, and why, at least in Iraq, is so I seemingly ineffective.

u/gigglebottie · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

Actually there's an interesting hierarchy that develops when traumatic situations happen and panic sets in. People who are leaders in that area tend to step forward and make the big decisions where other people will generally stay passive and do as they're told.

EG, a fire breaks out at a restaurant. A server is more likely to take an assertive role than say, a boy scout troop leader who happens to be eating at the restaurant. Even though the troop leader would be more accustomed to directing a group, in that situation they will tend to follow what the server says, even though outside of the restaurant it would be the opposite.

You'll hear stories of bellhops and "menial" workers going above and beyond their duty in circumstances like this, and this was the case on the Titanic as well. I wouldn't call engineers menial but the clerks and staff on-board the ship put their passengers well being above their own, repeatedly.

And contrary to popular belief, people rarely ever panic - a very common natural reaction to disaster is to freeze and observe. If no one else panics, the instinct is to fit in with the crowd and do nothing. Flight attendants have to be trained to literally shout at passengers to get up from their chairs in an emergency, otherwise the passengers will just sit there!

I'm sort of rambling but my main issue with your comment is cowardice. Cowardice and fear are terms and realities for higher thought. When disaster strikes, for the untrained man, higher thought is not involved. Self-preservation can manifest in very strange and unexpected ways, and none of them reflect on your moral fiber as a person, just what your body is programmed to do to survive.

But you are right, you definitely have to get to know yourself in a disaster in order to predict what your general behavior will be.

Also this is a really awesome book that I recommend on the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unthinkable-Survives-Disaster-Strikes/dp/0307352900

edit: ha, linked to the wrong book!!

u/Avarith · 1 pointr/Economics

Amanda Ripley's book talks about surviving disasters--including man-made ones like "crowd crush". There's lots of stuff in here about the psychology and simple physics of crowds. And, for those of us that like to think humanity is generally good, there's a whole chapter on heroism. It's worth a look.

u/Ditch_Doc_911 · 1 pointr/martialarts

The Unthinkable. Really great read for anyone. My on the job experiences as a medic fully bears this book out.

u/funkymunniez · 1 pointr/Portland

Moving sale! Got fired from my job and now I'm going back home so I have a lot of odds and end type shit and some furniture I want to get rid of. Prices are fixed, but only because I'm already lowballing everything because I just want to get rid of it. I'll post pictures of the actual item based on interest.

Things I'm offloading right now:

edit: New Stuff!!

  • Assorted beer glasses - two tall pilsner glasses (22 oz) (has a logo like this on the glass), small 3 oz taster glasses (3) one from Sam Adams, one from Wachusetts Brewery, one from the Copenhagen Beer Festival - Pilsners are $2/each and tasters are $2 for all three.

  • Assorted wine glasses (3) - $1/each

  • Digital Food scale - $2

  • This type of waffle maker. I think it's a black and decker, just all black colored, entirely plastic. Used but in great condition. - $5

  • Orange Safety Vest - $2

  • Two paper coveralls (Tyveks) - $2 for the pair

  • Orange work gloves. They're insulated a bit so they'll keep your hands warm and have a rubber palm/finger grip.

  • Hand warmers...I have 4 or 5 packs. - $1 a pack

  • Vacuum cleaner. So it's seen better days but it still gets the job done. Canister style vacuum, has primary floor attachment with a beater brush, solid floor attachment, wand attachment (the narrow high suction thing for getting under tight spaces), a bristle brush, and a smaller upholstery attachment with a beater brush built in for doing things like couches, cars, etc. There is something wrong with the connection between the primary floor attachment and the handle because recently it only operates the beater brush when the handle is turned at an angle. Like I said, it's seen better days, but it still works fine and would be a great vacuum for a shop or secondary thing to clean places that are typically dirty. Whole thing is $5 + some bags. Maybe you can fix it :)

  • 1.5ish ft by 2ish ft rubber entry mat. Used it to change my shoes after a muddy hike without trying to balance around and getting my feet wet or dirty. Take a hose to it and everything cleans right off. - $1

  • This Floor lamp - $5. Add $1 and you get bulbs!

  • These tire chains. New, never used (still sitting in the box amazon sent it in unopened), model QG1142. Bought it to fit a 2008 Honda CRV stock tires. And these rubber tighteners. Also brand new, still sealed in packaging unused. They go together, $20 for both.

  • This Leaf Antenna. Bought it in January, it's been sitting next to my TV. Delivers crystal clear, uncompressed broadcast channels. I used it to watch football for a month and get the morning news, works perfectly here in the city. I'm leaving a F/F coax connector with it so if you want to run a longer cable, you can. $5

  • FitBit HR Charge (original). Color is black. I have two of them and three charging cables. $20 each + charging cable.

  • This silverware tray. Fits in a standard sized drawer and has an expandable slot. $5

  • Brand new black and decker iron. Still in box. $5

  • Black and Decker toaster oven. Like new, been using it for 3 months to make small batch cookies, toast sandwiches, cook biscuits, and heat up food. I think this is the model, if not exact it's near identical. Has all pans and racks, black. Goes up to 450F. $10 Sale pending

  • This paper towel holder. $3

  • This table from Fred Meyer. Still brand new, sealed in box. Never had a chance to set it up. $75

  • A 3 foot, True Temper square shovel. Almost new, used it for work a few times. Only a couple months old. Looks kinda like this shovel. but not quite the same. Black grips instead of red. $10 Sale pending

  • ID badge holder. Holder also prevents proximity based copying...or something like that. It was given to me when I worked for the gov several years back, I don't know. $1

  • Two boxes of nitrile rubber gloves. Large and XL. Used maybe 3 pairs of XL but both are opened. $4 for both boxes. Sale pending

  • Stack of white envelopes. Idk...write me a poem.

  • Knife block. Your basic multipiece knife block. Steak knives, chef knife, carving knife, etc. Also comes with some kitchen utensils like a large plastic spoon, a spatula (I think) and a few other odds and ends. It's one set - $5.

  • These bottles of Nikwax waterproof restoration stuff. Never used, $5.

  • This napkin holder. New. Been sitting on my table for a month holding napkins. $5

  • A copy of the Kite Runner. Used, but little wear and tear. $1

  • The Unthinkable. $1. Sale pending

  • Zombie Survival Guide. 1 poem.

  • ATT cordless handset phones. Two handsets. One main docking station that has a voice mail built in and a secondary dock for the other handset. Still have the manuals too. $5

  • I have two stethoscopes. They're in pretty good condition, one never been used, the other was used last years ago and only for a brief period. Both in good condition. $10 for the pair.

  • Metal measuring spoons and measuring cups - $5

  • This TV stand. Color black. Surprisingly well built for "cheap" furniture. I have one back where I'm moving and it's held up great for 5 years. $75

  • Coffee Maker. I think it makes 4 cups, I'll have to check. It's a small one that I basically had for guests as I don't drink coffee. - $5 sale pending
u/TripChaos · 1 pointr/subnautica

There's a lot of great writing on it, off the top of my head the easiest read I'd recommend is titled The Unthinkable.

TL:DR; freeze/lockup is a sort of overload of new experiences. Only when something recognizes that it's life or death, but something else happens and just zombifies them. Taking action is infinitely harder to pin down, but rooted in leadership/independence and being able to focus on the familiar/ignore the full scope of the disaster to avoid lockup.
My best interpretation on why it's unreasonably easy for humans to just sit still and let themselves die is because of how social we are from an evolutionary standpoint. As a group, it's massively beneficial for 90% to just blank out if the other 10% can stand up and shout "This way!" to keep them from going toward the danger. Doesn't work so well in today's world, as much because the guy running for the exit doesn't think to give orders as it is everyone else being conditioned to be passive.

----------------------

There's a lot more on more generic emergency moments than the physical/fight stuff. Why people fail to even pick fight or flight is commonly the topic. The thing I've mentioned is closer to choosing fight, but doing a piss-poor job of it. Sort of like the fight response being broken.