Alive cover art

Alive

The Story of the Andes Survivors

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Alive

By: Piers Paul Read
Narrated by: Paul Ansdell
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About this listen

On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the 45 original passengers and crew, only 16 made it off the mountain alive. For 10 excruciating weeks, they suffered deprivations beyond imagining, confronting nature head-on at its most furious and inhospitable. And to survive, these men and women not only had to keep their faith; they had to make an impossible decision: Should they eat the flesh of their dead friends?

A remarkable story of endurance and determination, Alive is the dramatic best-selling account of one of the most harrowing quests for survival in modern times.

©2002 Piers Paul Read (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Americas Climbing & Mountaineering Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science South America World Survival Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant
I've already read the book and was interested to listen to the audio version.

Unfortunately I felt the choice of reader was poor - although clear, the reading was far too lighthearted and jovial sounding

Enjoyed the story but...

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I'd already read Miracle in the Andes and this book was a great compliment to that. It sort of fills in the missing data and provides a deeper summery of events to what is really an amazing tale. While Miracle in the Andes is a more personal account of the events that transpired in 1972, this book is more a detailed account, a day to day of what happened. It really goes into some detail to help flesh out the former. Highly recommended to listen to both. A truly amazing tale of human endurance in one of the worlds most inhospitable environments. Great!

A great read or rather a listen

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It’s difficult to not know something about ‘Alive’. It lives in the culture as a reference to what we all might have to be capable of one day. This book is incredible at humanising that struggle, from the victims but also from the frantic families never giving up hope in the face of cynical authority.

A great book that reminds us of what it is to be human, visceral in its telling.

What an incredible story

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This is a great book! I found myself listening to it at 2am in the morning, unable to switch off. I was born way after the event so I only knew snippets of what had happened, so it was a shame that the preface gives the ending away. Other than that, a really enjoyable read. Well worth the credit.

Incredible story

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The story here is absolutely crazy.. would recommend for that alone.
A tragic accident in the first place but then pile on top of that everything else they had to endure.

Mental story..

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