What to Carry, What to Burn

When Lucy Irvine stumbles on an ad in the back of a magazine—an eccentric writer is looking for a “wife” to join him on a tropical island—she thinks she’s found the adventure of a lifetime. But the survival you sign up for is not necessarily the survival you end up in… To learn more about this story, I recommend the book Castaway by Lucy Irvine. There are other sources, as listed in the episode, b...

It’s 1976, and a 20-something aspiring painter, Lauren Elder, is flying over California’s Sierra Mountains to pick up a cat named Ferocious. When the plane crashes, she’s faced with a decision: stay and wait for rescue, or cross a wilderness where—in her hallucinatory state—she can’t even tell what's real. Sources for this episode include the book And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder and Shirley S...

It's bad enough that 19th-century sailor Bob Holding gets stranded on an island after a shipwreck—but to make it worse, his companions are entitled, incompetent, and straight up murderous. Plus, they're not as alone on the island as they think... Sources for this episode include the books The Wake of the Invercauld: Shipwrecked in the Subantarctic by Madelene Ferguson Allen and Island of the Lost...

Francois Raynal and his buddy, Captain Musgrave, are looking for a rumored island full of silver when they end up stranded in the Southern Ocean, surrounded by thousands of belching sea lions. After surviving a year in the wilderness, they accept that the world won’t save them—so they develop an ingenious (and terrifying) plan to save themselves. Sources for this episode include the books Island o...

When five explorers are abandoned on a frozen island, with ever-dwindling food and supplies, they try to arrange their own rescue by dogsledding across the frozen Arctic Ocean. Twenty-three-year-old seamstress Ada Blackjack is left completely alone--with no idea when, or if, she'll escape. Featuring guest Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Ada Blackjack wants one thing: To make enough money to bring her son home from an orphanage. But good work is hard to find in 1920s Nome, Alaska, so when four strangers come to town, looking to hire someone for a secret yearlong expedition, Ada embarks on the trip—not knowing that she’ll be the only one of them to survive.  Featuring guest Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About. Hosted on Acast...

A brand new podcast by Blair Braverman, launching May 12, 2026. See you soon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.