Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things

I bought the Kindle version of Everyday Survival, but then had to buy the paperback version because I kept wanting to read sections to my husband and hate flipping back through the Kindle. If you're a left-brain linear thinker, I can see why this book didn't do it for you; however, if you're a right-brain thinker, you won't think Gonzales veers off-track at all, and will happily follow along with him on his mental as well as geographic journeys. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 only because his prose is not as poetic as Loren Eiseley's. Still, his writing is very accessible, considering the topics he deals with and I felt like I was listening to a cool friend.

At Girls Fight Back, we focus on using your intuition as one of the greatest tools of personal safety. Gonzales examines how the mind works in patterns to make us more safe at times and at other times to put us in more danger. Awareness is always the key, illustrated by the story he tells of a firefighter who sets his watch alarm to go off every hour during a fire. When that alarm goes off, the firefighter uses it as a reminder to stop to, “…look around and question what he’s doing, what he’s missing, what he ought to notice. Moreover, he stops to consider what he’s feeling in his gut too. Maybe there’s a signal he is ignoring.” We all need a mental alarm to stop and asses to prevent us from going too deep into a “vacation state of mind.” He concludes this book by stating, “Although it’s easy to pass through life as if in a waking dream, we can enrich our lives, make ourselves more effective, and sometimes even cast a protective web around ourselves and our children, by a habit of knowing—a craving to know—our world and ourselves and by the simple act of consciously paying attention.” This is a great read to start you down the path of awareness. Gonzales is also the offer of another great book Deep Survival.

I will answer the implied question suggested by the title of this book with one word:Why do smart people do stupid things? EVOLUTIONThat pretty much sums up this book. There are a couple of interesting chapters in the very beginning of the book that talk about this question, but then the last 3/4 of the book goes off on a tangent that reads more like a journal of self-discovery than anything else. It was interesting stuff, and for the most part I enjoyed reading it, but it was nothing like was I was expecting based on the title and description of the book. I was expecting something more practical, not a discourse on the origins of life and the universe. So if you are looking for something practical to read about how to survive every day disasters then move along. This book is not for you.

Gonzales is a master of detail and one hell of a writer! He nailed it! It's hard to blame people for being just what they are: Human Beings with an evolution of their DNA that is a big part of who and what they are and how they behave! Bravo to Gonzales for "detailing" this information and the association between our behavior and our evolution. THX!

Very informative read on what happens when things really go bad. It will probably save your life if you are cognizant of the lessons this book will teach you when the chips are down and you need to survive. That's the secret to survival - will you remember these lessons when the chips are down.

This is a fascinating read that goes over all of the ways that we can be more aware of our surroundings and do little things to ensure survival no matter what the scenario. The book accomplishes all this without being one of those doomsday kind of prepper things.

After hanging on every word while reading Deep Survival, I was very disappointed with Everyday Survival. The first 3-4 chapters showed promise with the same excellent story-telling blended with psychology research, evolutionary psychology, and well developed arguments. After that, however, the book devolves and gets lost in ramblings on entropy, environmentalism, and other topics that have little to do with "everyday survival". Instead, just when you think you know where Gonzales is heading, he drifts in another direction. No cohesive theme brings the book together and just getting through the last five chapters became a challenge.

Read Deep Survival and was captured. This is better. Traveling soon to the Serengeti Plains and Laurence set me on a perfect trajectory for the trip. Buy it.

I agree with the criticism that this book failed to live up to its predecessor. However, Gonzales has a delightful style and writes compelling essays. In fact, I'd venture that essays have been his best work to date. I've followed his writing as he has found his voice and his subject matter. I'm fascinated by his father's remarkable story and how the author has used it as a springboard in to deeper, more philosophical waters, but I'd recommend his earlier work over Everyday Survival. One Zero Charlie is a particularly good collection, even if you have no interest in aviation. If you read this, Mr. Gonzales, please don't stop writing essays. They may not be as lucrative as novels, but you have a talent for them.

This book is miss-selling itself! I feel annoyed and cheated! I read Deep Survival and loved it. I was transfixed by it even. Couldn't put it down. I felt like throwing this one across the room. What I loved about Deep Survival were the anecdotal passages, the real dramas that unfolded and the thoughtful conclusions drawn from them. This book hovered on the brink of delivering this again, then didn't. Instead it veered off into bizarre bland pop-science/philosophical territory. There was nothing wrong with the sciency stuff and the eco preaching (good writing, well enough referenced) but IT WAS NOT WHAT I BELIEVED I WAS AWAY TO READ!!!!! It was digression after digression (is that the word?) and I wondered where it was going; no-where for me. I after an ok few chapters I started skimming then my skimming got faster then it got tossed aside. GONZALES and publisher, what were you thinking?!