New York Backpackers

August’s selection is 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin.

Location is still TBD but hoping to have this outdoors if weather permits

Genre: Survival, Adventure, Nonfiction
Pages: ~288
Goodreads: ★4.1/5

After setting out from the Pacific coast of Mexico on what was supposed to be a routine fishing trip, fisherman José Salvador Alvarenga and his young crewmate are swept far out to sea by a violent storm. With their engine dead, radio destroyed, and thousands of miles of open ocean surrounding them, rescue quickly becomes impossible.

What follows is one of the most astonishing survival stories ever documented. Adrift for 438 days—more than a year—Alvarenga survives by catching fish with his bare hands, drinking rainwater, eating birds and turtles, and enduring relentless isolation, starvation, storms, and despair. The psychological battle proves every bit as daunting as the physical one as he struggles to maintain hope while drifting across the Pacific.

Drawing on extensive interviews and investigative reporting, Jonathan Franklin reconstructs the ordeal in vivid detail while also exploring the controversy surrounding Alvarenga’s incredible claim and the science of extreme human endurance.

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