THE UNTHINKABLE

I’m a worrier, particularly now that I have dependents (well, cats) and live far from most of my friends and family—in earthquake country, to boot. I try to heed post-9/11, post-Katrina, post-temblor, post-H1N1 advice to “be prepared” for a major disaster, but it’s hard to know exactly what situations to prepare for—forced to evacuate? Stuck at home with no electricity or water? Stranded at work, in my car, on the train, or elsewhere? I can’t carry a suitcase with me everywhere, and anyway, the long lists of items to stock in my emergency kit never answer my real questions: What does a disaster feel like, and how would I deal with it? Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why, in which she interviews survivors of terrorist attacks, plane crashes, fires, and other disasters to illustrate human behavior in such situations, was very helpful. It doesn’t provide gimmicky tips about duct-taping your windows; it focuses on our psychological and physiological responses in times of crisis and how those can be helpful or hurtful (many of the modern disasters we face, like large-scale bombings, are so different from the dangers we evolved to cope with that our instincts may not always be correct). The stories are harrowing, but they’re also riveting (I had this as an audiobook, and it was a good one to keep me interested while commuting) and ultimately empowering. No one can stop all disasters from occurring or guarantee you’ll never experience them, but you can try to understand and control how you might react. Keeping an extra supply of bottled water is important, but so is training your brain to work quickly and clearly under stress. Somehow, I find this comforting.