Picked up this book a while back out of my like of RYP’s prior works to include Licensed to Kill, The Hunter, the Hammer, and Heaven, and World’s Most Dangerous Places.
While LTK and THTHAH are recounts and commentary on RYP’s visits to various conflict zones and interactions with people in such locales, Come Back Alive is more in the form of WMDPs in that it is intended to be more of a “guide” for folks encountering such issues are areas. While WMDP does a country by country breakdown of typical issues in numerous countries and is both entertaining and educational on issues in each location (and quite lengthy), Come Back Alive is more of a general guide to events one might encounter—kidnappings, bad food, lethal animals, car accidents, high altitude sickness, etc.
I won’t spend much time on this review. The book was not worth anyone’s time. RYP has just taken the Boy Scout’s Handbook here and sprinkled in a few snarky comments about how you are more likely to be killed by a hippo than a lion, that you should run away from a fight and not worry about self defense, and that the third world has lots of bad drivers. There is little to nothing here that common sense or a year in Cub Scouts wouldn’t have already taught you (bring water to the desert as its real dry out there type of advice). The work is disappointing in the utmost given his keen observations and experiences related in his other works. Round file this work in the recycling bin.