Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Third Man Factor

  • Surviving the Impossible
  • By: John Geiger
  • Narrated by: Sean Pratt
  • Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (16 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Third Man Factor cover art

The Third Man Factor

By: John Geiger
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Into the Uncanny cover art
The Angel Effect cover art
Endurance cover art
Off the Deep End cover art
Shattered Air cover art
Maverick Mountaineer cover art
The Great Polar Fraud cover art
To the Edges of the Earth cover art
Critical Hours cover art
Limits of the Known cover art
A Life on the Edge cover art
Leading at the Edge cover art
Blind Descent cover art
When Your Life Depends on It cover art
We Die Alone cover art
A Wretched and Precarious Situation cover art

Summary

The Third Man Factor is an extraordinary account of how people at the very edge of death often sense an unseen presence beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive.

This incorporeal being offers a feeling of hope, protection, and guidance, and leaves the person convinced he or she is not alone. There is a name for this phenomenon: It’s called the Third Man Factor.

If only a handful of people had ever encountered the Third Man, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds. But over the years, the experience has occurred again and again, to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, sailors, shipwreck survivors, aviators, and astronauts.

All have escaped traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having sensed the close presence of a helper or guardian. The force has been explained as everything from hallucination to divine intervention. Recent neurological research suggests something else.

Best-selling and award-winning author John Geiger has completed six years of physiological, psychological, and historical research on the Third Man.

He blends his analysis with compelling human stories such as that of Ron DiFrancesco, the last survivor to escape the World Trade Center on 9/11; Ernest Shackleton, the legendary explorer whose account of the Third Man inspired T. S. Eliot to write of it in "The Waste Land"; Jerry Linenger, a NASA astronaut who experienced the Third Man while aboard the Mir space station - and many more.

©2009 John Grigsby Geiger (P)2013 Gildan Media LLC

What listeners say about The Third Man Factor

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful examples used in this book.

Jaw dropping book. A revelation to me. Thank you for sharing this angel of a book with us

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A nice book but poor recording

I really enjoy the multitude of anecdotes and examples of the phenomenon described in this book, but I have a hard time following the text in audio because the recording is a bit muffled (low treble, very compressed, possibly noise gated). Unfortunately the voice artist also speaks in a hasty staccato, swallowing many syllables, causing me to repeatedly rewind the text in the hope I can catch it the second time around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought Provoking

An interesting and provocative exploration of one aspect of our minds capacity to perceive persons that we 'know' aren't there yet there is no suggestion of delusion.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but repetitive

The third man stories are interesting but repetitive and the narrator’s voice soothing.......an excellent book at bedtime. I slept well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought provoking

A very interesting look at how we cope with pressure. The author presents a balanced (scientific vs spiritual) view of the third man phenomena. Good listen for anyone interested in extreme survival or spirituality and ideas beyond our everyday experiences.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!