SAS Survival Guide – Climate & Terrain and On the Move: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere

Written by John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman

Narrated by Colin Mace

THE MULTIMILLION COPY BESTSELLER

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SURVIVING ANYWHERE

The SAS Survival Guide is an essential companion for adventurers everywhere. From making camp and finding food in the wild to security and self-defence in the streets, be prepared on land or sea.

This unrivalled guide from SAS legend John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman’s will cover Climate and Terrain and On the Move – the characteristics and climates of different regions and zones (including polar, arid, and tropical), how to plan a route, and where to travel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Mar 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008355258

John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman

John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman served for 26 years with the SAS and was their Chief Survival Instructor. He remains the foremost authority on SAS training techniques for civilians. His knowledge, skills and experience are unrivalled and he is deeply respected in survival circles.

[electrascaife · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Gladwellian treatment of what makes successful people successful. Fascinating and well-written, as his stuff usually is.

[oeste2-573238 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

fascinating

[radiojen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Where do I start? I learned SO MUCH from this book.

The author seems to me to be a very educated man, yet he writes on a level very easy to understand without making you feel like he's "dumbing it down." I appreciate that because I think I'd like my teenage son to read this. My son is 15 and I think there are some parts he wouldn't understand, but there are definitely parts he will not only understand but I think will find fascinating.

Outliers is an easy read. It's something that could probably be finished in four days if you really dive into it. I personally wanted to savor some of what I read and had time to ruminate a little on what I was reading. I like how it's organized, too. Each chapter is a separate case study, but is divided further into separate sections. It's easy to follow thanks to this particular organization. The author also repeats some of the case studies he has mentioned earlier in the book, helping you to tie it together as you go.

I think maybe the one thing above all others that I really took from this book is why Asians are so good at math and why so many are such hard workers. My son is being tutored in math by a Singaporean girl and I am beginning to think that's not a great idea. While she is very good at what she does, Asians and Americans just speak an entirely different language when it comes to math.

It's definitely a great book if you ever wondered why some people make it and others don't. If you ever thought, "I am so good at what I do, why am I still struggling?" this book could help explain that for you.

[kwskultety · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant and thought provoking. I learned about cultural differences resulting in plane crashes, why the Eastern world is good at math, and when you are born in the early part of the year you get certain privileges. Everyone should read this book; and then send their kids to school as outlined in the chapter "Marita's Bargain".

[booktsunami · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Our culture celebrates the myth of the “self-made man.......we naturally tend to attribute an individual’s success or achievement to his or her own efforts and innate abilities.
We place such a high value on individuals and their “self-made” achievements that we often willfully ignore other factors.
Once you reach a certain threshold, increased abilities no longer help you succeed.
Qualities that foster success–like height in basketball players or quantitative intelligence in mathematicians–have a “threshold.” For example, after reaching a certain height, an extra couple of inches don’t make that much difference for a basketball player. The same is true in education as well:
Despite their poorer performance both before and during law school, the minority students (given special entry privileges) enjoy similar salaries, earn as many honors, and make as many contributions to the legal world as their white classmates.....Once you’ve reached the skills threshold, marginal increases in innate reasoning abilities won’t advance you. Other things–social skills, connections, or even a lucky break–will.
World-class mastery of anything demands around 10,000 hours of practice–no easy feat.
Bill Gates spent a lot of time learning computer programming. The Beatles spent a lot of time on stage. Though they were also extraordinarily talented individuals, it was extensive practice that made them truly world-class.........studies show you need to spend a “critical minimum” amount of time–around 10,000 hours–practicing. You need the opportunity to start early so you can get in as much practice as possible and secure a head start on the competition.
Also, you or your family has to have the resources to support you.......You might also need access to expensive state-of-the-art equipment. And encouragement from family, friends, coaches, teachers and kind strangers you meet on the street helps too.
However, many people effectively lack the opportunity to achieve world-class mastery in their chosen fields........“Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.”
The month you’re born in can have a huge effect on what you achieve. Annual cutoff dates pit kids born in January against those born at the end of December. In other words, December babies compete with kids who are basically a year older than they are......[I’m very aware of this as one born at the end of December and always pitted against kids who were essentially a year older than me.....as all competitions etc was on the basis of “those turning 10 this year”.....so that’s why they were bigger, stronger, faster than I was!!.....I think I like this book]. It also creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: coaches praise the best nine-year-olds because they’re stronger, better players, when in fact they’re neither; they’re just older–a year makes a big difference when it constitutes one eighth of your life. It’s the reason professional Canadian hockey players have birthdays in the first half of the year more often than in the second.....But relative age can create unequal opportunities in any area that uses annual cutoff dates to divide people into age-based groups. Most sports leagues have them. Another place that has them? Schools......Thus, the five-year-old whose short attention span inspires her to take a crayon to her spelling homework can grow up thinking she’s a “problem child.” At the same time, the calm almost-six-year-old she sat next to grows up to go to Harvard.
How you’re brought up can radically impact how successful you become.
Practical intelligence is “procedural” knowledge: knowing how to interpret and work social situations to get what you want–in other words, knowing who to ask what, and when.
The ability to interact with and negotiate with authority figures can help inch people closer to their goals.......Wealthier parents instill in their children a feeling of “entitlement” more often than lower-class parents do......They teach their children to demand respect and to “customize” a situation to suit to their needs. In other words, they teach their kids practical intelligence.
The year you’re born in can make or break you [It’s actually the era or time you were bon and the historical circumstances. Alexander would probably not have been great if his father had not been assassinated and thus unable to lead the invasion of modern Turkey].......Consider several big-name software billionaires: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and co-founder of Sun-Microsystems, Bill Joy. All of them were born with an extraordinary gift for logical reasoning as well as ambition, practical intelligence and opportunities to practice their skills. Mystery of the wildly successful solved?......Not so fast........In order to capitalize on the rapidly changing software industry, they had to be born at just the right time: late enough to have access to a new computer model that made it easier to work out programming bugs, but not so late that others could get to their ideas first. They also had to be just the right age
Where you come from–geographically and culturally–can have a particularly large effect on what you achieve.
When children learn the words for numbers in Asian languages, they automatically learn to add up numbers too, thus developing their mathematical aptitude early on. [Must check with my wife about this....it’s a new claim to me....and I’ve learned to count in two wildly different Asian languages].
Rice farming fosters an intense work ethic. Farming rice is much harder than farming Western crops. A robust, profitable rice harvest demands precision, coordination and patience. [As an ex agronomist, I’ve had reasonably close involvement with farming rice and other crops and think this is just myth making.....all successful farming requires hard work , planning and foresight etc].......Anyway the author says rice farming offered a clear relationship between effort and reward......Research has shown that students in Western countries give up on math problems far sooner than students in Eastern countries do.
People with ancestors who worked in rice paddies tend to inherit an attitude towards work that is particularly helpful when learning math. This tendency persists, even generations after families have left rice paddies behind. [I think this is rubbish. Certainly families from Asian backgrounds tend to work hard, prioritise and are focused on succeeding educationally. But whether this is due to 400 years of a military dictatorship (as in Japan), or to Confucian philosophy (as in China, Singapore) or to rice farming or just the immigrant’s desire to get ahead.....is not obvious].
If we recognize the importance of cultural legacy, we can help more people work towards success–and prevent failure....Airline pilots can run into a series of small problems that add up to disaster. An example is Korean Air,.......Korean culture values authority figures and dictates that one should always defer to an individual with a higher rank. Thus if the captain of a plane makes a mistake, lower-ranking crewmembers might not be comfortable correcting the captain because their cultural legacy says they shouldn’t......One of Korean Air’s crashes in Guam can be traced back to such communication failures. The captain ignored the first officer’s timid comment about rain. ....If we recognize the reasons behind uneven playing fields, we can create more opportunities for people to succeed. Many hockey players who might have harnessed great work ethics or learned to handle the puck better than anyone else in the league are lost because resources go to those who have an unfair advantage by having been born in the right part of the year. Cumulative advantage for some means cumulative disadvantage for others.....Once this flaw in the system is recognized, however, it can be fixed......Instead of sitting back and allowing the children of wealthier parents have access to more opportunities, we can create programs like the South Bronx’s KIPP–Knowledge is Power Program. [Well maybe....but I think it’s practically very difficult to have, say 4 age groups in schools where we currently have one......but maybe we could work more around thinks like “personal bests” and time vs age in months etc.]
The key message in this book: No man, woman or Canadian hockey player is an island. Extraordinary success is the result of an often-unlikely series of opportunities, lucky breaks and occurrences that combine to create the precise conditions that allow such achievement.
I liked the book and it drew out a few things about advantage, that I had personally been aware of but hadn’t seen much published on the issue in the past. Four stars from me.

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good read to explore the idea that outliers have more to do with dedicated work, cultural heritage, and circumstantial opportunities. I like Gladwell's stories in explaining these ideas, but I don't know enough about the research to validate the ideas.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gladwell invites the reader to look deep into "outliers' exceptions to a rule, to truly understand how they have come about. He looks at a series of cases, from the well-known to the obscure, to establish patterns and show underlying reasons for the exceptions that achieved success.

The reading is compelling and the cases are always interesting. However, the main theme and the conclusion seem almost incidental to the book, summarily treated, and sometimes I was wondering why I was reading what I was reading... a better follow-through and stronger conclusion, recapping findings and tying them together, is definitely missing.
Overall it does provide an interesting perspective that might lead to a better understanding of edge cases, but it does lack a constructive summary.

[castlelass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gladwell is the “myth buster” of psychology and sociology. He takes commonly held assumptions and shows, based on his analysis, they are either not true or limited. In this book, he looks at phenomena outside of our normal everyday experience. He posits that if we examine the lives of outliers (such as Bill Gates, Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Joy, and the Beatles), it will provide insight into how to improve our world. He wants to change the way we think about achievement and success. There is an ironic element in this work, as one of his findings is that outliers can be explained by ordinary factors, such as opportunity, hard work, practice, environment, cultural legacy, luck, and being in the right place at the right time in history.

The author explodes the myth of individualism (which he calls the “self-made man”) and “the best and the brightest.” He believes we are squandering talent. He examines such unlikely topics as rice farming, airline accidents, hockey, and musical auditions. He ends the book on a personal note by taking a look at his family history. I am not sure some of these wide-ranging topics completely support his theories, as there are many more variables than those he singles out, but I found it informative and worth my time.

[josephty1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read it for a long time. But it helps to know what a left handed smart person thinks like. However in Outliers he talks too much about situations the average person could never relate to.

[angelalam-300700 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Being born in the right place at the right time with the right talent and the right opportunities is the formula for success.

Not since "Who Moved the Cheese?" have I hated a book so much.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook read by the author.
3.5***

Subtitle: The Story of Success.

Gladwell looks at hugely successful people who are “outliers” … far out of the norm. Examples include Bill Gates and The Beatles. He tries to explain how luck, opportunity, and the right birth year or month help these people succeed. Of course, ten thousand hours of practice is also a key element. (Not that I ever wanted to be a hockey star … being a girl from south Texas, I didn’t even see a hockey game until I went to college … but apparently, I was doomed from the start because I was born in December. So, if I HAD been interested, I would probably have been better off practicing the piano more often.)

I was interested in what Gladwell had to say and found the various essays easy to absorb and understand.

Gladwell narrates the audiobook himself. I cannot imagine anyone else doing a better job. However, the audio lacks the graphic depictions (charts, or sample IQ test questions), so I was glad I had a text copy of the book for reference.

[ms_rowse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A friend lent me this book months ago, and I finally cracked it open, thinking I would give it 20 pages before giving up. I read over 200 pages in one sitting. Gladwell's research repeatedly blew my mind and had me thinking about my own life, full of happy accidents and luck that created the life I enjoy today. Fascinating read with important considerations for most of our social infrastructures (which, I realized, are often completely arbitrary and as such, completely boxing out deserving, talented, and capable people). Gladwell's vision for a richer society is contagious, but the pessimist in me is certain we are too entrenched in tradition and habit to see the change he advocates.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

adult nonfiction; sociology. Gladwell examines the makings of success--what allows one person to do exceedingly well where another equally talented person might lead an ordinary life. A certain amount of ability/talent is certainly required, but a person must also be lucky enough to be presented with opportunities. Extremely interesting, as always; there is also an in-depth look at what causes plane crashes.

[stephkaye-923485 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic read for educators and anyone else interested in the relationships between talent, intelligence, and success.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the last of Gladwell’s books I hadn’t read. I love the way he approaches a topic and this is one of his best. He discusses Bill Gates & the Beatles, explaining where their advantages came from. He even discusses his own background and his mother’s childhood in Jamaica. Our lives are shaped by external factors, when we are born (athletes and Jewish lawyers) and our cultural history (Asians’ math skills). Ignoring those influences puts us at a disadvantage.

[pdcread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another good book by Gladwell, with a series of anecdotes and stories about people who have become extraordinarily successful in their own field.

He considers well know people like Bill Gates & Steve Jobs and less well know individuals. All of these people happen to be in the right place at the right time, and with the right set of skills. He also considers people who have have the same potential to reach these amazing heights, but due to circumstances and predominately class barriers have not achieved this.

I like the writing style of Gladwell; he has the ability to write complex ideas with sparking clarity.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Being an outlier means being a non-conformist. One hears this kind of advice all the time. So many people buy into conventions that they forget the reasons behind the conventions.

Gladwell seeks to critique the standard story of an outlier’s success. As normally told, outliers start doing there own thing; they work really hard and persevere; then in the end, they end up successful while all the world is envious of them; their story is one of individualism. Gladwell seeks to bring to light that while this may be true, there are social structures at work helping the person along.

“No man [or woman] is an island,” wrote John Donne in the sixteenth century. Such is still true today, Gladwell admonishes us. We are the products of how our environments shape us. In order to succeed, we do not need to be different; instead, we need to grasp to make the most of the opportunities presented to us. He illustrates his point through telling interesting stories about topics as varied as hockey players’ birthdays, computer technology, slavery in Jamaica, and the interaction of ethnicity and plane crashes. These stories show what he means by the fact that we are all dependent on social supports to some degree. Success is not just a choice of the will; it is the product of a society.

Some, particularly in America, might be defensive about their own individualism while reading Malcolm’s writing. We must be clear that Malcolm is not saying that individual choices and personality play no role. What he is saying is that society plays a role, too. We must pay attention to one’s culture and to plain luck as well.

This book is an interesting read for leaders. It is not a sociological study and does not contain a depth of academic rigor. It seeks to inspire mainly by story and anecdote. It’s a good reminder to get our minds off of ourselves and our personalities and onto things that really help out the people next door, in the next cubicle, or in the next suburb or town.

[jessika.c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At first, I thought this was going to be full of subtle racist comments and I was worried I was going to be angry by the end of this book but it was a pleasant surprise that I wasn't. Gladwell's commentary about people's success stories fits in with things I've noticed about successful people. While it's true that hard work is key for someone to make it, there's always a series of strings that need to be woven at the right time to make that hard work count. Circumstances aren't always going to be the same.

While there are some parts that could seem racist, nothing Gladwell says is meant with the intention of putting one culture above another as superior. It simply analyzes how different upbringings can put out different results with varying degrees of successes and failures.

This was very entertaining and I would highly recommend reading this.

[tatoosh-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Full disclosure: I am a retired research psychologist and my views are influenced by my professional training and decades of experience.

Malcolm Gladwell generally does a skillful job of reviewing the psychological and sociological research literature addressing important contemporary issues and preparing a readable summary for lay audiences. “Outliers” is a good example of his work. My reading preferences tend toward mysteries but after reading the early portions of “Outliers” I set aside the popular mystery I was reading to give priority to this book.

Gladwell’s writing is generally organized around compelling stories that illustrate significant psychological findings. In that respect, this and other Gladwell volumes are like a contemporary political speech. His generalizations from illustrative examples to general principles are designed to convince non-discriminating readers. Overstatement and oversimplification are rampant; balance and critical restraint are absent.

Gladwell’s thesis in “Outliers” is that individual differences that appear to be due to innate qualities are in fact the result of luck and differences in opportunity. He relies primarily on ex-post facto analyses.

The lives of successful individuals such as Robert Oppenheimer, Bill Gates, and other noteworthy individuals are examined and advantages or opportunities they enjoyed are identified. His own family is included as a further example. The relative advantages enjoyed by these individuals and are cited as the reasons for their accomplishments.

A balanced, carefully qualified treatment of the research evidence bearing on Gladwell’s thesis would result in a far less interesting a book but a much more nuanced conclusion. Gladwell made no effort to identify a sample of individuals who enjoyed the same advantages or opportunities and determine the range of outcomes. He ignores the countless, readily available examples, that run counter to his conclusion. Instead, the carefully selected stories seem designed to simplify a complex issue and convince readers of the validity of his thesis.

That is not to dismiss Gladwell’s work out of hand. The issue he raises is important and the evidence he cites should be carefully considered in the context of the more expansive body of evidence available. Although some readers may be inclined to take his conclusions at face value, thoughtful readers will recognize his conclusions and the supporting evidence as a meaningful starting point for a much more detailed, balanced analysis

[isatyajeet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Exceptional...A Must Read..

[lyndatrue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wept through parts of this book. It was good to see that someone had done research, and had some solid answers as to what gave impetus to my life. Remarkable work, and I suspect the apex of Gladwell's efforts. Others on Library Thing have done credible and excellent reviews, and there's no need for me to repeat them. This book brought me peace, and I'm grateful.

[almin-70827 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed listening to the audio read by Malcolm Gladwell.....I may not have enjoyed the book as much if I had read it instead of listening to the author read his own words. He knew where to pause, emphasize and I think we got a little more of his ideas then what was in the book. As far as the content ...so interesting and he always back his theories by naming studies and research that prove the point. Throughly enjoyed and will definitely listen to more of his books.

[theyodamom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such an unexpected pleasure to listen to. The narration was fantastic. The information clear and written is such a way that I absorbed and considered the facts presented. For me that is amazing, I am easily distracted and seldom retain most information, ADHD yep. Some of the information seemed stretching, borderline ridiculous, but there were numbers to back the claim. I found his research on the learning systems around the world and the KIPP program the most interesting. It was just another wake up call for American school systems. I listened to this one and want to read it now so I can spend more time thinking about the revelations he explores.
I loved it. I think it was one of the best information books I've read on this subject.

[emma_manolis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are books that make you think and then there are books that make you think and somehow along the way manage to change your entire perception. “Outliers” is the last of the two. When I received my syllabus for this semester I felt a tad miffed because I noticed that one author was mentioned twice as required reading. “How can this ever help me with the emerging trends in higher education?” I asked myself. The answer to that question remains unanswered; however, I have realized that this book can help me with my life and my own personal success.

Like the author I have spent a decent chunk of my life wondering what it is that makes some people successful and others not as successful. Like most of the population, who haven’t yet read “Outliers,” I assumed that these people must have some characteristics that separate them from everyone else. After all, the self-help section is full of books trying to sell you on the habits or characteristics you must have if you want to succeed. Malcolm Gladwell looks deeper into various success stories and reveals that so much more goes into success. Success is more about factors you cannot control like your birth date, your culture, where you are from. It really was a fascinating read and I have not stopped talking about it to everyone I meet. I would strongly encourage everyone to take a few hours and read it for themselves. This is not a read you will regret.

[gennac-606910 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gladwell tackles the topic of success in a manner that is innovative and thought provoking. Considering society’s penchant for the underdog success story, Outliers is particularly eye-opening in regards to how it refutes what we consider the necessary ingredients of success. Considering not only some of the most famous success stories, such as Bill Gates, but also more complex notions of success such as the Asian proclivity for math and the abstract idea of genius, this text is slight yet substantial. While Gladwell’s discussion of aspects of success is engaging, what most lends to this book’s greatness is its ability to offer perspective on unique cultural concepts, such as the Power Distance Index (PDI) and the culture of honor, and the role these concepts play in our societies and personal lives. (I apologize for using the word "success" so many times in this review...)

[siok-76276 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book doesn't teach one how to succeed, the factors gladwell mentioned are quite out of one's control but they do teach one how to view success differently. In particular, I like the chapter on culture and communications, I was a communications student but I have never come across such an apt example (how culture affect comms and how it has an effect on aviation accidents). Gladwell isn't original, he is just a good story teller of other people's primary research. His book is good if you view it in this way, and to keep in mind that to fit in his objective he must have omitted other critical factors for success.

[whiskey3pa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read. Provides a lot of grist for the mental mill. Written in an engaging style and moves briskly.

[juva_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A persuasive reevaluation of the myth of the self-made man. Mr. Gladwell argues that successful people succeed not because they are endowed with some unique talent, but because circumstance, culture, and luck have all converged to put them in the exact right place at the exact right moment.

The only other factor that matters in success is a LOT of hard work. More than is possible for most people - approximately 10,000 hours. What all successful people have in common is 10,000 hours of work in their field. At first this book seems discouraging because it suggests that the single greatest factor in success is luck. But it also suggests, what we have always known - hard work is the only aspect of success within our control.

The book is composed of a series of fascinating case studies looking at this principal in practice all over the world.

[jennysbookbag.com · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love all of his books.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Malcolm Gladwell asks an interesting question in this book. Namely, what 'makes' an outlier, an exceptional person. His answer is that except for their obvious talent all of them are the 'product' of their age, family and cultural background. Which is naturally true but I had a feeling many times reading the book, that he is explaining the most obvious and self-evident thing for a whole chapter.