Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance |  | Author: Peter Stark
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $11.00
as of 3/12/2010 10:37 CST details
You Save: $18.95 (63%)
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Seller: nicolemary
Rating:  20 reviews
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 4.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0553714600
Dewey Decimal Number: 616
EAN: 9780553714609
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Prepare to have some of your greatest fears laid bare in this collection of riveting, and often terrifying, "cautionary tales from the limits of human endurance." Based on interviews with accident survivors and the medical specialists who treat them, veteran outdoor writer Peter Stark offers mostly fictitious accounts (there is one based on a true historical incident) of people caught in life-threatening situations. In Last Breath, he thoroughly explores what happens to the human body and mind during drowning, a long fall, burial beneath an avalanche, hypothermia, dehydration, mountain sickness, the bends, malaria, scurvy, hyperthermia, and contact with a poisonous jellyfish. Stark packs enough historic and scientific information and page-turning suspense into each chapter to make them all fascinating and useful. And he answers some perplexing questions in the process, such as why those suffering from acute hypothermia often rip off their clothing in an effort to save themselves. No, Stark does not have some unresolved death wish--he readily admits that he fears death. But he also understands that the fine line between life and death actually entices outdoor adventurers to risk everything for the chance to explore their own physical and mental limits. In fact, it is exactly this close proximity to death that makes the experience come alive for certain individuals with the overriding desire "to strip away the superfluous, to remove the protective boundaries between that thing you call a self and something larger." These are the stories of those who crossed the line. --Shawn Carkonen
Product Description
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Five CD's
A fascinating blend of adventure and science, LAST BREATH recreates in heart-stopping detail what happens to our bodies and minds in the perilous last moments of life when an extreme adventure goes awry.
With a growing number of people setting out to climb snow-capped mountains, swim choppy seas, and hike through dark, dense jungles, extreme deaths and brushes with death seem to have become everyday occurences. A compelling synthesis of science, history, possibility, and prevention, LAST BREATH examines the physiological, psychological, and emotional stages our bodies and minds endure at the brink of death. Listeners will shiver with a man lost in snowy woods, suffering from
hypthermia, as he tears off his clothes, burning up from cold. They will hallucinate with a young woman as she succumbs to a cerebral edema stranded at the top of Anapurna. And while a kayaker tumbles helpless underwater for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, listeners too will gasp for their last breath.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 IF I COULD LEAVE SIX STARS... October 23, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am disappointed, but of course not surprised that some people did not enjoy this book--those who did not enjoy it either did not understand what they were buying or do not have the imagination it takes to be affected by this incredible piece of work. They need REAL cases, where they can't see past the fictionalized format of each of these circumstances. Peter Stark is the MICHAEL CRICHTON of outdoor adventure and all its dangers, where he provides the medical/biological condition of the victim that he or she, if writing his own tale would never have known about. Don't get me wrong, first-hand accounts are great, but the objectivity in these tales really makes them easier to "experience," and the use of second person in the opening and closing chapters is the crowning touch. You aren't "listening to someone else's story", you are completely drawn in with the victim, as long as you have an active imagination. If you don't feel affected after the last chapter then I just don't know what to say--talk about a grand finale for a book--I've never been so freaked out in all of my life! GET READY! Overall, I will never view being underwater or forgetting my water bottle the same way after reading this book.
My Favorite Non-Fiction December 2, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I first read a chapter of this book in paddler magazine and the way Peter Stark described the drowning of a kayaker (Chapter 2: A River of One's Own) in detail right down to the amounts of oxygen remaining in his lungs at various periods of time. The entire book is written as en ewcellent blend of fact and fiction and while the scenarios are not true they are composites of true stories, and some of Stark's imagination, which gives them a realism that pure fiction can't match. The facts Stark gives are sound, he obviously did his homework and he even gives a bibliography so you can check out some of his sources. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get outside.
Amazing work February 3, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is one of the best I've read in a long time. To the first reviewer, he clearly didn't understand this book, as is shown by the following reviews. The author is brilliant, after the chapter on thirst I went to the fridge and drank two sodas right away. The writing is intelligent, you don't get the feeling he's trying to dumb it down to the lowest common denominator. There is just enough medical information to make you understand what is going on physically, but not overwhelm you. I highly, highly suggest you read this book.
Life on the Edge January 16, 2002
Jerry Laub (Ohio)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The author places his characters in a variety of outdoor adventures -- rock climbing, kayaking, snowboarding, etc. -- each which poses some risk of injury or death. In each situation the worst does occur and the author then describes how the human body reacts, consciously or unconsciously, to life-threatening forces.The bibliography, arranged by topic, provides many additional resources. Highly recommended for health care professionals and those who love outdoor adventures.
Non survival at its best. January 28, 2008
Judith E. Jacobs
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first read this book over five years ago. I could NOT put it down!
These are part fiction part true short stories of the many ways one
can take ones LAST BREATH - literally. For some reason I started in
the middle with the drowning story. A blow by blow clinical description of what goes on in your body as you drown. Facinating! Each story is
pretty much about people taking chances and risking their lives for
different reasons;mountain climbing, cycling, scuba diving,or just being caught out in the cold, - some recover - but some wind up taking their Last Breath. As you read it you know exactly how it happens. I've read it
three times. Great read -especially to the layperson who may not know
strenuous sports or the extremes a human body can withstand.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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