Customer Reviews

A Survival Guide for Life (Unabridged)

This latest book `A Survival Guide for Life' by Bear Grylls is a 5-star publication - beautifully bound with a marker ribbon and with a variety of fonts and almost bullet-point bold print presentation that is simple and straightforward to read. In addition to books the author is probably best known for his world-wide television swashbuckling adventure and survival programmes. At age 23 years in 1998 he became the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, and I was impressed by his subsequent book `Facing Up'. As a Boy Scout one of my grandsons is equally impressed by Bear's contributions as Chief Scout and his promotion of guidance on how to stay alive in the wild and sustain oneself in hostile situations. On the basis of its title `A Survival Guide for Life' seemed to be a perfect Christmas present for my grandson (coming up 11 years old), and certainly it is inspiring and inspirational - but it is not what I expected - it does urge venturing outdoors, adoption of practical skills and tackling mountains, and Bears refers to Scouting and to SAS/Commando experiences, but `A Survival Guide for Life' is more about firing readers with enthusiasm as a form of treatise on life challenges and motivation.

Topics covered include commitment, courage, perseverance, tenacity, working hard, overcoming hurdles, kindness and caring with emphasis on fun and laughing at oneself. In the first chapter Bears encourages readers to think big and find their dream - their own personal Everest. He goes on to warn of `dream-stealers' and to beware of obstacles - but to make the first step, be passionate and positive, and to follow goals wholeheartedly. He employs numerous metaphors linked to mountaineering - taking things a step at a time, leadership and team spirit, assessing the risk:reward ratio, not carrying unnecessary baggage, acknowledging retreat is not failure etc. In giving advice about how to cope when things aren't going well he also relies on homilies and stories concerning family and friends plus Biblical quotes and comments from his heroes including Winston Churchill, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong. The final chapter is on humanity and humility and there can be no doubting Bear Grylls as genuine. His writing endorses him as a likeable person with narrative that oozes enthusiasm and humour, and I credit him with speaking from the heart and having genuine faith - but his book is for older children and adults - at Christmas I'll be giving my copy of `A Survival Guide for Life' to my grandson's dad!

What a great book. I have such a short attention span unless I'm really interested in something so this book ticked two boxes for me: 1. Each chapter is ridiculously short and 2. I found it all interesting.

It's presented in hardback format with an extremely useful bright orange ribbon bookmark.

Bear comes across as a really genuine guy and has snippets from his life experience (despite being only a few years older than myself). He's achieved a lot and stayed true to his morals and ethics.

This isn't a full on self-help book but in that genre of books is one of the best - if not the best - that I've read.

It's short, to the point and snappy. None of this elongated 10/12 page chapter nonsense for the sake of it. It reaffirms.

I knew Bear was religious and he goes down the religious line a bit in this book with "put your faith in Jesus", etc. This disturbed me initially as I'm not religious but then I got to thinking that faith is that inner belief that things will be ok and this creates confidence and so if this is what I need then maybe I need some faith in some form or another. Basically, each to their own so I didn't mind it and can see how he draws strength from this.

All in all, very good book. Easy read. Get the most from it.

Wow. I have always enjoyed Bear's adventure programmes on TV, largely due to his unrelentingly positive attitude towards life, and have found him genuinely inspirational. To be so mentally strong, attract success in many different facets of life, and yet be so humble is incredibly rare.

To now be able to immerse myself in his pearls of wisdom has been a privilege, and like other reviewers, I only wish I had had access to this book many years ago, as I would now be a better person because of it.

Whether you have a cursory interest or a deeply held commitment to self-improvement, this book will benefit you and help you grow - I can feel the benefits myself already after 2 reads!

Intelligently written and directly delivered, this book is first class.

Get ready to build as a person, and enjoy the ride!

A brilliant motivational book, the mottos of which you can adapt to sport or any aspect of life where you need reinspiring. Most chapters only a couple of pages, so very easybto pick up and put down.

A very well written guide from somebody who knows a thing or two about getting on in life. Regardless of what your ambitions or goals are you will find this very insightful and uncomplicated. I am not personally a fan of self-help books, and it would be unhelpful to describe this as one, but if it's guidance, direction or even just motivation you are looking for then this is a great, common sense companion written with zeal and compassion.
The bite-sized chapters are perfect for reading at your leisure, and are well-thought out making it a great reference book to go back to whenever you need inspiration. Good work Bear!

What an awesome book (take a bow Mr Bear Grylls)no nonsense straight to the point,i have read through it twice so far and it will be a great reference book for future when you need to give yourself a kick up the arse.Well worth the money people.

This is not another survival guide but a guide with 75 quotes and motivational stories to achieve Your goals in life told and sometimes experienced by Bear Grylls. The ultimate message is to never quit and keep going.
A phycological boost to everyone who needs motivation in any situation.

Good, old fashioned advice from a bloke who's been there, done it, got the T-shirt. Nice coffee table size volume with built in bookmark.Cheers Bear!.

Really inspiring read, enjoyed the whole thing. Love him anyway, he is very humble and truthful. Got one for my mum too x

All those other 5 star reviews are correct. The man who eats insects, drinks his own p*** and camps inside a dead camel is also able to punch out a superb self-help book. Some of it consists of classic personal development stories, re-told from the Grylls perspective. Some is totally original. But all is spot on. I have read every self-help book out there. I've even written a few! And while generally, the authors talk a good talk, they tend to be full of platitudes and/or American smulchy stuff.

This one isn't! Which is why I love it. Bear's message seems to be work hard, appreciate what you've got, be resilient, keep your promises, be positive and go for it. Stuff that people already know but aren't doing!

And, to his absolute credit, he's not just saying these things, he's living them