This book explains why people are ignoring the obvious. Read. This. Book.

I've seen a lot of posts questioning why friends and family are denying what we see happening and what we can do about it. I encourage all of you to read The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley (revised and updated 2024 version)

Taking examples from disasters such as 9/11, Katrina, and COVID-19, it explains how our brain works in a disaster, how we think about disasters and how that affects who survives.

The most striking example in this book (so far)? When speaking about 9/11 survivors was the role of denial. After the planes hit, people moved slowly called friends, gathered items, waited for instruction. And when they finally realized they should leave, they were quiet, walking in single file lines down the stairs at a rate of one minute per floor. That's ridiculous and a shock! I expected for it to have been chaos. Not true. Denial is one helluva drug

This book also shows us how to warn people. It takes on the "We don't want to tell people too much because they will panic." myth and how that harms everyone, tells us how to build trust, and how to craft our messaging. I've gotten to the part about the importance of community and I'm excited to read more!

I'm only like a quarter through this book but it's a HUGE eye opener. Yes buy, books but also... libgen, z-library, and Anna's Archive, and ocean of pdf are great too.

Edit #472

The purpose of this post and her book is not to blame victims for any actions they took. Rather it's to understand how people might act and why. She handles talking about 9/11 well, providing additional context like that in skyscrapers people were told to stay in the event of a fire and that people are more obedient during a disaster.

In the book she describes the poor safety measures that were in place post WTC bombing in 1990s. She tells the story with the words of the people who are in 9/11.

The book is talking about the phases people move through when disaster strikes. Denial then deliberation then the rest. The 9/11 example was simply showing how denial looked by someone who was there. It's not about conscious denial, it's about the way our brains protect ourselves.

Edit: a word

Edit #2: Apparently the audiobook is 30% off on audible (Amazon) and available on Spotify premium. Check your library via Libby. It's available on Ebay.

I'm not sure if it's in ThriftBooks, Bookshop.org, Tertulia, or Libro.fm (non-Amazon options.) Apparently bookshop.org lets you pick what independent book store gets a slice your purchase. I'm gonna be using this from now on.

Here's a shadow library uptime tracker for the different libraries mentioned in the post

Edit #3: Apparently AbeBooks is owned by Amazon. wompity-womp-womp le sigh

Edit #4: FEMA has PrepTalks and the Author has one video about her book!

Edit #5: Other recommended books by people in the comments!

Deep Survival - Laurence Gonzales

A Paradise Built in Hell - Rebecca Solnit

When there are no doctors