Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance Download for free books Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance from 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link
Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. Beyond that fraction lie the extremes. What happens when we go to them?
Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. A consultant for NASA, Yale University, and the National Geographic Society, he has explored undersea caves, crossed the frozen Antarctic wastelands, and stitched a boy's hand back together while kneeling in knee-deep Amazonian mud. He was the only doctor on Everest during the tragic expedition documented in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and helped treat its survivors. Kamler has devoted his life to investigating how our bodies respond to "environmental insults"-a nice way of saying the things that can kill us-and watched while some succumbed to them and others, sometimes miraculously, overcome them.
Words like "extreme" and "survival" have lost some of their value from overuse and media hype. By showing us what happens when life itself is at stake, and the body's capacities put to their greatest test, this book reminds us what they truly mean. Divided into six sections-jungle, open sea, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space-Surviving the Extremes uses first-hand testimony and documented accounts to illustrate what happens in environments where our instinctive survival strategies must become fully engaged. These stories reveal how infinitely complex are the workings of the human body-and also how heartbreakingly fragile. At the heart of this book is a quest for the source of our will to survive and the haunting question of why some can, and others cannot, summon its awesome and nearly mystical power at their moment of greatest need.
Surgeon, explorer, and masterful storyteller, Kamler takes us to the farthest reaches of the earth as well as into the uncharted territory within the human brain. Surviving the Extremes is a scientific nail-biter no reader will forget.
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Kamler's "Surviving the Extremes" is a complex blend of physiology, biochemistry, survival guidance in extreme circumstances, adventure medicine, and personal reflection, all under an umbrella of behavioral neurology. It is a fascinating work that streamlines its many foci into a stimulating Darwinian read that perhaps does simplify, at times, certain brain processes but does capture the overall gist. His writing conjures up potent images varying from the edge of the macabre to the tenderness of humans during times of extreme environmental, emotional, and physical stressors. Truly recommended for anyone interested in science or adventure!
By Bunny Bunsen, PhD
After reading about Kenneth's' visits to the Amazon forest, underwater caves, and the top of Mount Everest, to name a few, you may be struck by the explorer bug too. Ken's main job on the excursions in this book is to act as main medical advisor, but thankfully, he is also a grade A writer. He recounts his trips; I will not spoil the book by recounting them here, from a mostly medical point of view. At heart Ken is a humanist seeking to find out how and why the few who choose to live in the extremes, (95% of the earth is uninhabitable by humans) do so. He goes into great depth describing the cultural and physical adaptations that people under-go. After many generations living a rough life natural selection has weeded the weak and stupid away leaving only the most suited for survival in any given "extreme" area of the world.
Don't let the title scare you off. This isn't a gimmick book that slathers its tile with the adjective "extreme", this is truly meant in a most literal fashion. If you are intrigued by the inner workings of the ER or even the TV show ER, then I would recommend this to you. If you have read the best seller "Into Thin-Air" by Jon Krakauer, you may be interested in the fact that Kenneth Kamler was the ill-fated expedition's doctor on the spot and he has recounted his point of view of the tragedy in one of the chapters.
Some of the places you'll visit and learn the many ways you can die (and the slim chances of your survival):
1. the Amazon jungle
2. lost at sea (above)
3. the heat of the desert
4. the pressure of the deep sea (below)
5. the top of Everest
6. and the vacuum of space
After you read this, you'll be able to amaze your friends with your knowledge of cannibalism and butt parasites.
By Christy Smith