" It's very easy to quietly and gently slip into making a really bad decision and anyone who thinks themselves immune is sadly mistaken."

Spot on!

This is really a fascinating area of safety and survival during any dangerous/challenging activities or circumstances. Which eventually includes daily life.

I would highly recommend that any kayaker (or any backpacker or any climber or any person) not only read "Deep Survival" by Gonzales--but to thoroughly study it.

I have learned so many critical concepts from repeatedly studying it, and it's the kind of book where I know that each year when I reread it, there will be something new, something deeper as I grow as a person.

There is one sobering point, however, which is critical to understand: the way the human mind is wired, it is virtually inevitable that we'll make mistakes. Certainly we should try to minimize them. And we should use our knowledge to take on only that amount of risk which seems appropriate to ourself. Yet we must factor into that risk assessment that the mind is--in certain ways--hard-wired for certain errors.

Seriously, study "Deep Survival". Priceless.