The tale is simply told, with authenticity, right from the start. Most books let me nod off after 60 minutes, but this one kept me awake much longer. I have low vision and usually save audible books for bedtime, relying on news during the day. This book is among the top survival stories I have ever listened to and is very possibly the best among them. I love survival stories and I have listened to many. How this life-threatening situation changes this man's values, believes and priorities for the better. Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you? The performance of the reader is excellent! Have you listened to any of George Newbern’s other performances before? How does this one compare? But still the story is told in a very believable manner. It is amazing how someone can survive even 1 month in these conditions, let alone 14 months. What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative? The story is told in amazingly simple way that still draws you in. The man at the center of this story is remarkable. 438 Days is a study of the resilience, will, ingenuity, and determination required for one man to survive 14 months lost at sea. He imagined a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to toss him up on a remote, palm-studded island, where he was saved by a local couple living alone in their own Pacific Island paradise.īased on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and interviews with his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life, and the remote islanders who nursed him back to health, this is an epic tale of survival, an all-true version of the fictional Life of Pi. But Alvarenga never failed to invent an alternative reality. He considered suicide on multiple occasions - including offering himself up to a pack of sharks. Using fish vertebrae as needles, he stitched together his own clothes. Taking apart the outboard motor, he fashioned a huge fishhook. He built a fish net from a pair of empty plastic bottles. He learned to catch fish with his bare hands. When he washed ashore on January 29, 2014, he had arrived in the Marshall Islands, 9,000 miles away - equivalent to traveling from New York to Moscow round trip.įor 14 months, Alvarenga survived constant shark attacks. The storm picked up and blasted him west. A vicious storm killed his engine, and the current dragged his boat out to sea.

On November 17, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. 438 Days is the miraculous account of the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history - as told to journalist Jonathan Franklin in dozens of exclusive interviews.

438 days story