When bad things happen who survives ….. and who doesn’t?
When life caves in around you who bounces back ….. and who collapses under the weight?
Why can a tragedy hit a family and one sibling self-destructs while the other one thrives?
Why do some folks seem to get all the breaks while others seem to live under a black cloud?
We just got confirmation that this weekend our guest will be Ben Sherwood author of the book “The Survivor’s Club” who will be able to help us answer some of these questions and more.
I started reading his book about a week ago and a half ago and it quickly bounced the other books I was reading out of the rotation (generally I try to read about three to four books at a time).
Knitting needles through hearts, mountain lion attacks, getting hit by a 20 ton truck, getting ejected from an F-15 at supersonic speed (769 miles per hour) and enduring g-forces of nearly 9,000 pounds and living to tell about it are the kinds of stories that have a tendency to catch your attention.
The most fascinating thing about the book though isn’t the superhuman stories (actually it turns out they’re not superhumans) or the fantastic survival facts (you’re more likely to survive a heart attack in a Las Vegas Casino than a hospital) but the very real ideas and time proven concepts that you can use to improve your odds of surviving and thriving when bad things happen.
Now granted, the odds are that most folks reading this are not going to get attacked by a mountain lion or have to eject from a jet but the interesting part of the book is that many of the same tools that allow folks to survive those kinds of scenario’s are equally applicable in less dramatic scenario’s.
In a day and age where it seems like we can’t escape the bad news, bad economy, everything causes cancer, world gone crazy (earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, flooding) atmosphere, a book that teaches us how to survive and thrive in every situation is probably a good investment ….. and a heck of a read!
Even better though is the very real implications this has for those of us who have, or work with, kids. Imagine if you could help THEM develop the traits, characteristics and mindset to survive the bumps (BIG and little) that life’s going to throw at them. Afterall, what kind of job as a parent (or adult in general) are we doing if we DON’T teach our kids those kinds of things?
But don’t take my word for it, check out our interview this Sunday morning on “The My Great Kid Show” with author Ben Sherwood and judge for yourself.
A little bit about Ben Sherwood ….
Ben Sherwood is a bestselling author, award-winning journalist and executive director of TheSurvivorsClub.org. From 2004 to 2006, he worked as executive producer of ABC’s Good Morning America during the two most successful seasons in the program’s history. Sherwood guided prize-winning coverage of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the devastation of hurricane Katrina, and the presidential election of 2004.
From 1997 to 2001, Sherwood served as senior broadcast producer and senior producer of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.
From 1989 to 1993, he worked as a producer and associate producer at ABC News PrimeTime Live with Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson.
Sherwood’s new book, The Survivors Club, is a non-fiction exploration of the science and secrets of who bounces back from everyday adversity and who doesn’t; who beats life-threatening disease and who succumbs; and who triumphs after economic hardship and who surrenders.
In January 2009, Sherwood founded TheSurvivorsClub.org, an online resource center and support network for people surviving and thriving in the face of all kinds of adversity.
A graduate of Harvard College and a Rhodes Scholar, Sherwood earned masters degrees in history and development economics at Oxford University.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Karen Kehela Sherwood and their son Will.
Ben Sherwood Links
- The book – “The Survivor’s Club”
- The website – The Survivor’s Club – The Place for Surviving & Thriving
- Facebook | The Survivors Club
- Ben Sherwood
