10 Amazing Survival Stories That Turned Into Great Books

Life is an undeniable force. To be alive, to laugh, to love, and to feel love, these are the things that the human spirit thrives on and is what enables us to brave unbelievable hardships and endure unimaginable pain in order to hang on to every precious moment of it. Have you ever wondered what you would do if put into a situation of extreme survive or die decisions? These ten books are an amazing example of the indomitable human spirit and ten ordinary men who go to extraordinary lengths to survive. If you love to be inspired, read on and find out why you should get these wonderfully exhilarating books and learn what these brave people had to do to survive.

In a remote canyon in Utah, a young man becomes trapped when an eight hundred pound boulder shifts, trapping his arm behind its massive weight. With just enough food for two days and even less water, he struggles for five days trying to free his arm. Realizing he is about to die if something drastic isn't done, he takes the only tool he has, a dull pocket knife, and cuts his arm off, using the weight of the boulder and leverage to break the bone. This is an amazing story of what one brave man will do to survive. Once he is free, he still has to climb down 65 feet of sheer rock face and walk miles to find help. This book is a true testament to courage.

Aron explains how he did it

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The USSR denied that this escape ever happened and that Salvomir Rawicz was taken to a prison camp in Iran until his release. However, Salvomir Rawicz's book clearly details his escape, along with six others from a Siberian Gulag. They walked over 4000 miles through the Gobi desert, Tibet, and the Himalayas, finally reaching British India during the winter of 1942. This story of bravery and determination is an amazing one. Another Polish WWII vet came forward in 2006 claiming that it was he, Witold Glinski, that affected this escape and not Rawicz. Either way, Rawicz account of the events is a graphic telling of the trials these brave freedom hunters endured. Only four survived the terrible trek.

Sir Douglas Mawson was a great Antarctic explorer and an avidly into petrology. He also enjoyed being a mineralogist and used this knowledge during his expeditions in Antarctica. During the Australian Antarctic Expedition, which he led, fate dealt him a bitter blow in the form of a disastrous experience that took the life of two of his closest friends and colleagues and nearly cost him own. If there were ever a true story of personal loss and will to live, this is it. Choosing an area of the Antarctic that had never been explored up to that date, Mawson chose a team and headed south of Australia. The weather seemed to be against them the moment they arrived, crippling their only plane and forcing them indoors (in their prefabricated structures) much of the time. A steady 50-60 MPH wind raged almost continually for much of the year with gusts up to two hundred miles per hour.

During a return to base camp trek from the coastline after a successful five weeks of a mapping campaign, the three-man team was crossing Ninnis Glacier, named after the team member that died there, when tragedy struck. Douglas Mawson was riding the dog sled with his weight properly distributed along with the supplies they carried. Xavier Mertz was skiing and Lieutenant Belgrave Ninnis was in front jogging alongside the second sled team with most of the food supplies and the best dogs. The team unknowingly crossed a snow-covered crevasse and Lt. Ninnis' weight caused them to crash through. He fell to his death, taking the supplies and dog team with him. Mawson and Mertz could see a dead dog and an injured dog that landed on a ledge deep in the crevasse but Ninnis' body was never recovered. They trekked back with the remaining dogs to retrieve a tent as all their camping supplies were on the dogsled that perished. Without supplies or food, they knew they had to get back to civilization or die.

They set out with all they had left which was not very much. They had a one-week supply of food but with no dog food, they soon had to feed some of the dogs to the others and eat the dogs themselves as well. In his journal, Mawson describes the dog meat as tough and stringy with no fat. He goes on to say how they would chop the meat into tiny pieces and add spice in order to be able to stomach it. They also ate the liver, especially Mertz, who was having trouble chewing the dog meat. What they did not realize is that dog liver is extremely high in vitamin A which is poison in large doses. The condition is called Hypervitaminosis, made worse by lack of other vitamin resources. Each dog yielded very little edible meat. The men's physical condition became very poor. Since Metz ate so much of the livers, he became the sickest. They experienced dizziness and were nauseous. They began losing their hair and nails and were irritable. Both men became jaundiced with yellow skin and eyes but Mertz was worse and lost his will to live. Not believing he had frostbite, he bit the end off one of his fingers and became violent, raging around to the point of possible damaging their only tent. Mawson had to subdue his friend who then went into seizures and finally slipped into a coma and died on January 8th, 1913.

Mawson made the last 100 miles alone, nearly losing his life by falling through the snow into another crevasse. His sled was caught at the top and he used it to climb out, finishing the last leg without it. He reached base camp just a few hours after the ship sailed and a storm had moved in preventing its return so he had to remain at base camp with the six men who had stayed behind to search for him and the rest of the team. Mawson lived to the ripe old age of 76 years old. He was knighted and served on other expeditions as well as pursuing his academic goals. Truly, his experience epitomizes the will to survive against all odds.

President Abraham Lincoln stated that Skeletons on the Sahara was one of the six books he had read in his lifetime that influenced him and the way he views slavery in any form. This is a powerful read. James Riley's firsthand account of the tortures he and his crew endured at the hands of the Sahrawi natives in the Sahara desert is both horrific and compelling. Riley was the Captain of the American brig, The Commerce that shipwrecked on the Sahara coast. Stranded, they are captured by the native tribe and forced to drink their own urine to survive. When their bodies stop producing urine, they drink camel urine, as their captors were unwilling to share water with slaves. Four of them, Captain Riley among them are sold to a Muslim trader where they affect their freedom through a compelling twist that you will have to read to believe. Note: There is a documentary on The Discovery Channel that, while good, does not do this true story justice or give us the detailed and emotional element that you will only find in the book. I highly suggest this as a must read selection of survival and the will to live despite harsh and cruel circumstances.

May 10th, 1996, four separate teams start an ascent up Mount Everest that will change the lives of almost everyone involved. A rogue storm hits the mountain taking everyone by surprise and claims eight lives while stranding several climbers. Jon Krakauer's book differs from the movie; both entitled "Into Thin Air" by placing more a detailed emphasis on who deserves responsibility for the outcome of the day's events. There are claims that the safety of the mostly unprofessional teams is put in jeopardy by the competitive nature of two rival climbing companies vying for the summit of the same mountain. This fascinating read is a must for those seeking the uncompromising spirit of man to survive against all odds and an unforgiving mountain.

Inside the 1996 Everest Disaster by Ken Kamler

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Four friends decide to do a little exploring in the Brazilian Amazon. Several hours later, they realize that they are lost and severely under equipped. With the day almost gone, Yossi and his friends decide to split up into teams of two. When Yossi loses his partner while trying to raft down the river he finds himself helplessly lost and trying to survive with no equipment and very little survival knowledge. Alone and desperate, he fights for his life for 19 days in the unforgiving rain forest. Two of the four friends are never seen again. This account of his terrifying ordeal in the Brazilian Jungle is one that you will never forget. Yossi's story is one of overcoming fear and never giving up. When hope is all you have left, you cling to it tightly. Yossi now travels the world as a motivational speaker and lives in the very forest that almost took his life.

Yossi Ghinsberg - Laws of the Jungle

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During a climbing trip in the Peruvian Andes, Friends Joe Simpson and Simon Yates find the kind of trouble that will test their courage, will to survive, and their friendship. Descending the Siula Grande, the most dangerous leg of the 20,000-foot climb, Joe slips down an ice cliff and severely breaks his leg. With only 300 foot of rope between them, Simon digs into the snow and attempts to lower his friend down the vertical rock face. Instead of finding a safe perch, Joe is hanging off a cliff over a deep crevasse. Simon can neither see nor hear his friend and has no way of knowing if he is safe. Disaster strikes as Simon's anchor starts to crumble under him and he is drawn to the very edge of the cliff. Not knowing whether his friend is hanging two feet or two hundred feet from safety, Simon has a choice to make. Hold on to the rope his friend his tied to, be pulled over the edge to his death, or cut the rope, and hope his friend will be all right. What would you do? This riveting true story is a book that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

This riveting true story is also a documentary by Kevin MacDonald.

Part 1 of 12 of the Documentary

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Incredibly quick thinking allowed this survivor the opportunity to live and love again. During a storm at sea, Steven Callahan believes a collision with a disoriented whale is the cause of his boat sinking into the depths of the stormy and unforgiving Atlantic. Realizing he was about to lose his boat, he gathered everything he could think of that he might need to survive, including a book on surviving at sea, and clamored into his life raft just in time.

For the next 76 days, he drifted more than 1800 miles through two shipping lanes and almost floated unnoticed past the island of Marie Galante near Guadeloupe before being sighted and rescued by a fishing boat crew. His indomitable spirit helped him through hardships like dehydration, exposure to the elements, storms, hunger, shark attacks, and much more. There is one good thing that came from Steve's incredible experience is while he was adrift, he kept his mind sharp by developing a life raft that is more survival friendly and would allow a person who was adrift to sail and navigate. His wonderfully written book is a testament to the human spirit and courage.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 - 17 only served to cement the reputation of the greatest American explorer, Ernest Shackleton. Already a tried and proven hero, Shackleton led an expedition that was fated to failure and should have meant the death of many, if not all of the 56 men who signed up for the historic adventure. When their ship The Endurance became ice bound and hopelessly adrift, Shackleton's leadership and bravery kept these souls alive and vital. He had hoped that the ship, trapped in a floating ice floe, would drift them close to Vahsel Bay, but nine months later on Oct 24, the breaking ice put too much pressure on the hull, breaking her up and eventually sinking her. Shackleton had already set up an ice camp and amazingly, not one soul was lost during the entrapment on the ice floe. He then led them on a six-month quest to cross the ice prison and escape to land. This proved to be an effort in futility as they were forced to take to the lifeboats when the ice floe broke in half. Five days at sea landed them on an inhospitable island named Elephant Island. So concerned was Shackleton for the safety and well being of the men in his expedition that he gave his gloves to a cameraman who had lost his at sea. Shackleton developed frostbite in his own hands.

Not one to rely on fate for a rescue, he put his best men to work redesigning and upgrading one of the lifeboats, Choosing five of his best, they set to sea in the craft, christened the James Caird after the main sponsor of the expedition, 15 days after landing on Elephant Island, vowing to return for the friends and crewmen left behind. Two weeks later, they reached South Georgia but were unable to land because, as luck would have it, they sailed directly into a hurricane that pummeled the coast. Incredibly, they rode out the storm at sea. That same storm capsized and sunk a 500 ton steamer headed for South Georgia. If all of this wasn't enough, they landed on an isolated part of the mountainous island just about opposite of where they needed to be. Not daunted, Shackleton led two of his party across the mountains to civilization, a feat that had never been accomplished before. A few had crossed the island on skis to be sure, but no one had ever crossed the island straight through the center over the mountainous region, which was thought impossible. Shackleton did it with only fifty feet of rope and no equipment.

Throughout this amazing journey, Shackleton had led his team through impossible odds by virtue of his courage and undeniable strength of character. His will to live was a contagious force. Only three men were lost during this nearly two-year ordeal. Three attempts to retrieve the 22 men stranded on Elephant Island were foiled by ice floe but Shackleton persevered. He could have left their rescue to others but instead, Ernest Shackleton led the way back to the island to get his men. An incredible man on an incredible adventure called life.

Part 1 of 11 of Endurance, Shackleton and the Antarctic Documentary

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World War II produced heroes. Regular men and women pushed to extraordinary actions by a savage war that, if lost, could endanger freedom on a worldwide scale and wipe out an entire line of peoples. Jan Baalsrud was just one of these heroes who started the war as a regular man who had to do terrible things to survive. After destroying their boat by detonating 8 tons of explosives following a botched mission to destroy a German, air control tower, Jan, and three fellow Norwegian commandos were attempting to escape in a smaller craft when they were attacked by German aircraft. Their small boat destroyed, they found themselves in the icy arctic waters. Surviving the swim to shore, all but Jan were killed or captured by the Nazis. Eluding the enemy, Jan, with only one boot, managed to kill the top-ranking Gestapo Officer. He escaped on foot into the freezing snow-covered countryside. Sick with frostbite and snow blindness, he luckily fell in with a band of Norwegian resistance fighters. In a hut, with no medical personnel around to help him, he was forced to face a terrible decision. Barely able to walk, he operated on his own feet with his pocketknife, making incisions to draw off the poisoned blood.

In an attempt to reach medical help in the town of Mandal, Norway, they found bad weather moving in and Mandal over-run with German troops and patrols. They left Jan on a stretcher on a high plateau where he was stranded for eighteen days with only a rock wall for cover during which time he was forced, again using his pocketknife, to amputate nine of his toes to prevent the spread of Gangrene. Staying alive through sheer force of will, he was lucky to be found by fellow Norwegians and taken to a tribe of native Scandinavians called the Lapps Sami, who cared for him until he could be returned to his country. After the war, Jan Baalsrud went on to retirement and became the chairperson of the Norwegian Disabled Veterans Union. His story is truly one of endurance, a strong will to live, and willingness to sacrifice for the cause of freedom.

There's a Norwegian movie about this Survival Story called Ni Liv (Nine Lives).