438 Days Audiobook By Jonathan Franklin cover art

438 Days

An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

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438 Days

By: Jonathan Franklin
Narrated by: George Newbern
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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.

On November 17, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine, and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and blasted him west. 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.

For 14 months, Alvarenga survived constant shark attacks. He learned to catch fish with his bare hands. He built a fish net from a pair of empty plastic bottles. Taking apart the outboard motor, he fashioned a huge fishhook. Using fish vertebrae as needles, he stitched together his own clothes.

He considered suicide on multiple occasions - including offering himself up to a pack of sharks. But Alvarenga never failed to invent an alternative reality. 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.

Based 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. 438 Days is a study of the resilience, will, ingenuity, and determination required for one man to survive 14 months lost at sea.

©2015 Jonathan Franklin (P)2015 Simon & Schuster
Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Biographies & Memoirs Ecosystems & Habitats Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Social Sciences Inspiring Outdoor Adventure
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Critic reviews

"Narrator George Newbern does an excellent job delivering the story of Alvarenga's struggle... Newbern's consistent pace and varied tone keep the compelling story going, communicating the harrowing aspects of the journey as well as Alvarenga's inspirational will to survive his extended ordeal at sea." (AudioFile)

Featured Article: The 20 Best Survival Audiobooks for the Prepper in All of Us


Whether we’re focused on the apocalypse or just an ill-timed breakdown on the side of a particularly remote road, there’s something about imagining survival scenarios that can be addictive. On some level, we all wonder if we would have what it takes to pit ourselves against the worst the world can possibly offer and make it out alive. That’s why it’s no surprise that survival literature is so popular, and that the stories in the genre are so diverse.

Incredible Survival Story • Inspiring Resilience • Clear Narration • Detailed Research • Educational Insights

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Quick moving and heck of a story! Close up look at the arc of an almost certain disaster. Great examples of how ingenuity and confidence can combine to seize victory out of near defeat.

couldn't put it down

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Everything that could go wrong and right did for this amazing human being. What truly inspired me was the fact that he found himself forced out to sea with barely anything to ensure his survival, and yet he just went on to make a life of survival out of it. He accepted what happened, took stock in his new lot in life and just went with it. That my friends is how you get on with the business with living. If he had died enduring this chapter of his life; we’d all never known how he mastered the lesson of life; is just live to survive, endure and get on with the business of living. My spirit is touched for getting to know this mans humanity. Not just anyone would have done what he had to. A very high percentage of people just die in such life altering, life endangered situations. Many just don’t have this very rare type of will to survive. Its damn difficult for a long period of time for which the end to it is utterly unknown.
When faced with that, how do you know if you are one who can do it?

If you ever found yourself in a very bad way...

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This is a great story of survival ranking right up there with a lot of the other survival books I've listened to in the past couple years. Definitely recommended.

Awesome

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I expected an interesting story of survival. Even though everybody who starts this book knows the ending it is riveting and you're pulling for him to survive as well as realize he does have a purpose.

Great story of survival for a purpose

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Only quibble is that he could have identified the birds better and added a sequel to the 2016 edition to tell if Salvador really changed his life around like he promised to do while he was adrift
For this genre it is very well written imp and certainly the castaway fisherman displayed superhuman mental and physical strength!
Glad I bought it😊

Great book that's hard to put down

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