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Come Back Alive: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Disasters, Kidnapping, Animal Attacks and Other Nasty Perils of Modern Travel
By Robert Young Pelton
Doubleday Books
368 pp $14.95

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook
By Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Chronicle Books
176 pp $14.95

Like many kids, I grew up fantasizing that after completing my formal education, I would become a secret agent. Years later, having given up my 007 aspirations, I still occasionally daydream of landing a commercial airliner in a pinch, disarming a would-be mugger using only my feet, or even outwitting scheming rivals on a deserted island to win a million dollars.

Fortunately for me and my fellow wanna-be heroes, there are several books about surviving the perils of travel, disasters, and the sometimes treacherous nature of day-to-day life.

One of the most popular titles in the genre is The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Philadelphia-based journalists Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht. This slim, tough (possibly flame-resistant) yellow book claims to hold the secrets to escaping quicksand, wrestling alligators, and handling any number of life-threatening situations.

Piven and Borgenicht describe themselves as "everyday folk like you," but this is debatable. With no background in survival training, but a burning interest in evading crisis situations, they consulted experts in a variety of fields to create The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook. The lone source on "How to Break Down a Door" was a master locksmith; "How To Deal With a Charging Bull" was attributed to the director of a bullfighting school. Each entry is simple and to the point, and is accompanied by a cartoon of a rock-jawed man overcoming whatever dire circumstance is under discussion.

The Worst-Case Scenario would be helpful if you chance upon a swarm of killer bees, are called upon to deliver a baby in a taxicab, or, pressed for time, need to jump from a motorcycle into a car (although I have my suspicions about the survival rate of people who read this book and then attempt to leap from their Harley into a Camaro at 40 mph). Whether readers will find this beneficial is anyone's guess, and indeed, I hope fervently I won't be one of them.

The Worst-Case Scenario is best viewed as a novelty. With its concise entries and adrenaline-soaked situations, it serves as great daydream material while riding the bus to work. However, with its focus on wildly improbable hazards (not to mention the high degree of skill that most solutions require), the book is far from the "indispensable, indestructible guide for surviving life's sudden turns for the worse" it claims to be.

Although not as appealing to the inner action hero, Robert Young Pelton's Come Back Alive is a much better option for those who just want to stay in one piece. The book bills itself as "The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Disasters, Kidnappings, Animal Attacks, and other Nasty Perils of Modern Travel."

Pelton is something of an authority: In addition to writing several travel books, he has hunted for land mines in Afghanistan, arranged the first television interview with the Taliban leaders, and visited Algeria without a military bodyguard. His perilous travels are explained in greater detail in his previous book, The World's Most Dangerous Places, which later became a Discovery Channel television series hosted by Pelton.

Come Back Alive is full of practical advice on how to save one's hide while restraining one's would-be Indiana Jones. His caveat is that "real survival isn't pretty or heroic, so let's agree that the first step in survival is common sense tempered with the respect that most of us will never truly have to use what we learn." Subjects include how to conduct oneself in a fight (run, because "fights hurt and kill people") and what to anticipate when traveling (the worst, so be prepared), as well as more Hollywood-worthy subjects, such as how to survive in the jungle, find water in the desert, and build an arctic snow cave.

Steeped in machismo, Pelton's writing can be a bit condescending; however, it is effective in getting his point across. His summation of bush eating is typical: "Survival eating is more about understanding what nutrition sources are available and overcoming cultural barriers. No, I don't mean learning to enjoy ballet; I mean forcing yourself to eat things you would normally squash in disgust."

Pelton disdains the more rustic survival techniques espoused in The Worst-Case Scenario, such as starting a fire with two pieces of wood ("pretty much impossible to master without watching a pro do it"). But while he does explain how to endure dire situations, his intention is to teach you to avoid danger in the first place: "If you need to use your survival skills, you have probably already screwed up."

In fact, Pelton also uses statistics to illustrate how unlikely most worst-case scenarios really are: There's a one in 11 million chance of perishing in a plane crash in the United States, and one in 100 million of being attacked by a shark. And don't trust that your own abode is a haven -- traveling is 40 percent safer than staying at home, due to hazards like rickety staircases and half-finished cigarettes. More people die from injuries inflicted by that ubiquitous predator, the bathtub, than from animal attacks.

Both books provide plenty of situations to spur an overgrown Boy or Girl Scout's imagination. Even if you don't plan on getting buried in an avalanche, they're a pleasant way to spend an afternoon (although The Worst-Case Scenario only kills about an hour). But while Piven and Borgenicht's opus is good for heroic daydreams, it is little more than a coffee table book. If you are preparing to compete in Survivor or simply taking precautions against the lurking perils of everyday life, you are better off studying Come Back Alive. Maybe it's not as amusing, but survival is not about fun; it's about staying alive.

-- Eben Gillette is a freelancer writer based in New York.

First published October 20, 2000
Last updated February 15, 2008
Copyright © 2000 Consumer Health Interactive

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