When Life Hands Out Lemons, Some People Make Champagne: Supersurvivors, Now in Paperback, Explores the Science and Humanity of Achievement and Success

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA, June 05, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A New York businesswoman struck by cancer changes her life and becomes an international rock star. A man loses his eyesight and becomes the first blind person to row a boat across the Atlantic Ocean. A young basketball player, mangled in a horrible car wreck, rebuilds his body and becomes one of Hollywood's most successful stuntmen.

Why do some people succumb to tragedy while others are able to use it as a springboard for extraordinary accomplishments? That's the question authors David B. Feldman and Lee Daniel Kravetz set out to answer in Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link between Suffering and Success (HarperCollins/HarperWave, paper, $15.99). What they deliver is nothing less than a blueprint for human resilience and a window into the science of achievement. It's a book Bloomberg Businessweek called "This summer's Big Idea book" and Business Insider said was "one of the most valuable and interesting business books released this year." Its release in paperback explores the science behind why some people are able not only to bounce back, but to bounce forward from adversity. The insights the authors discover are particularly salient in light of studies revealing that up to 80% of Americans will experience a significant trauma sometime in their lives, not to mention the everyday setbacks and difficulties we all face.

"We wanted to know exactly what accounts for human resilience--and the implications it may have for 'ordinary' people vis a vis success," says Kravetz, a psychotherapist whose own survival of cancer at the age of twenty nine set the state for this important exploration into the social and psychological factors responsible for unexpected success in the face of overwhelming odds. Along with Feldman, a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University, they've given voice to individuals from all over the world who've managed to overcome significant hardship only to thrive in ways no one--including themselves--would ever have thought possible.

"I've worked with patients who have faced combat trauma, paralysis from spinal cord injuries, cancer, heart disease, and other serious conditions," says Feldman. "I've also spoken with loving wives, husbands, sons, and daughters facing the prospect of caring for a dying loved one. Through getting to know these people, I've seen the weight of adversity that people can face. While adversity is an unavoidable part of life, it obscures an incredible and encouraging truth about human nature: Contrary to popular belief, most trauma survivors eventually recover and go on to live surprisingly normal, well-adjusted lives."

Supersurvivors, which tells the stories of 15 supersurvivors, is the result of more than a 150 interviews with 50 survivors. Its breezy, highly accessible style, however, belies its solid foundation as a work of rigorous inquiry in the evolving field of positive psychology, a subset of which includes Post-Traumatic Growth. "We carefully examined hundreds of research studies on the topics of trauma, loss, and serious medical illness," says Kravetz. "I find this topic to be one of the most exciting in contemporary psychology. Supersurvivors, as we make clear in the book, are really no different from you and me. They don't possess superpowers. They've simply managed to align a constellation of strengths and abilities that, theoretically, anybody can marshal"--making Supersurvivors an important primer for anyone interested in the recipe for achievement and success.

"This is a blockbuster that every leader, parent, doctor, teacher, student, coach, and caregiver needs to read," writes Adam Grant, professor at the Wharton School of Business and the New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take. "I can't remember the last time I was so fascinated and moved by a book--let alone one grounded in science."

Others agree. "In Supersurvivors," writes Phillip Zimbardo, Stanford University Professor Emeritus and New York Times bestselling author of The Lucifer Effect, "Feldman and Kravetz create an inspiring narrative that elegantly integrates compelling personal stories, evidence-based conclusions, myth busting, and their keen insights to help solve a core problem of human nature: How some of us bounce back from disaster and adversity to thrive while creating even more vibrant lives. Learn those secrets here. Read on." Molly Caldwell Crosby, national bestselling author of The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic that Shaped Our History--calls Supersurvivors an "in-depth and beautifully rendered look at the psychology of the human spirit . . . as thought-provoking as it is inspiring."

Feldman and Kravetz, with their "Malcolm-Gladwell-type talent for wedding science and story" offer an enjoyable yet empirically grounded analysis of human achievement, a valuable book for anybody interested in human potential. It has even impacted the authors themselves.

"What I've learned from researching the phenomenon of supersurvival and interviewing these incredible achievers has impacted how I personally live my own life," says Feldman. "It has made me examine my own values and goals, consider what kind of person I want to be, and conduct my life more consciously and meaningfully."

About the Authors

David B. Feldman, PhD, is an associate professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California. His research and writings, which have been published in some of the best journals in the field of psychology, address hope, meaning, and growth in the face of life's difficult circumstances. He has lectured nationally and internationally; has been interviewed for such magazines as Self, Fortune, U.S. News and World Report, and Business Insider; has had his work featured in The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, WebMD.com, and About.com; and has appeared on national radio and television. He is the author of two previous books.

Lee Daniel Kravetz is an M.A. in counseling psychology and graduate of the University of Missouri - Columbia School of Journalism. His writing has appeared in Psychology Today, the New York Times, and The Huffington Post. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children and is a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto.

For more information, visit http://www.supersurvivors.com.

Media contact: Victor Gulotta
Gulotta Communications, Inc.
617-630-9286
http://www.booktours.com
victor(at)booktours(dot)com

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