The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible - Tapa blanda

"Riveting...truly revelatory...an important book" -- The Explorers Journal "There is a curious force capable of guiding the destiny of men and women in extreme peril and John Geiger knows what it is." -- Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and author of The Serpent and the Rainbo "Wade Davis" "With an irresistible blend of harrowing anecdotes and hard science, John Geiger unravels the mystery of how the mind copes under extreme duress and in the process sheds fresh light on what it is to be human. A compelling, moving read." -- Author of In Pursuit of Slow and Under Pressure "Carl Honore"

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. Bestselling 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 centre 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. Fascinating for any reader, The Third Man Factor at last explains this secret to survival, a Third Man who,in the words of famed climber Reinhold Messner, leads you out of the impossible."