THE THIRD MAN FACTOR
The Secret to Survival in Extreme Environments

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"People explore to discover and to learn, and when things go terribly wrong, the intensity of the moment really can, it seems, open doorways to the mystic. There is a curious force capable of guiding the destiny of men and women in extreme peril and John Geiger knows what it is."

- Wade Davis (Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and author of The Serpent and the Rainbow)

"John Geiger's remarkable book illuminated for me my own Third Man experience while leaving intact all of its wonder and power."

- Kenneth Kamler, M.D. (Author of Doctor on Everest and Surviving the Extremes)

"With an irresistible blend of harrowing anecdotes and hard science, John Geiger unravels the mystery of how the mind copes under extreme duress and in the process sheds fresh light on what it is to be human. A compelling, moving read."

- Carl Honoré (Author of In Pursuit of Slow and Under Pressure)

"What lies beyond resourcefulness, endurance, and courage? To answer that question, John Geiger follows explorers, mountaineers, solo-sailors, and disaster survivors to the ends of the earth. The Third Man Factor is a prodigious synthesis -- elegant, entertaining, and important. If you enjoyed Frozen In Time, you'll love this book."

- Ken McGoogan (Author of Fatal Passage and Race to the Polar Sea)

Currency trader Ron DiFrancesco in the World Trade Center, climber James Sevigny in the Canadian Rockies, and diver Stephanie Schwabe in the Mermaid's Lair of Grand Bahama, all shared an experience that an unseen being -- known as the Third Man -- helped them to survive against apparently insurmountable odds. So did Sir Ernest Shackleton and Charles Lindbergh. The Third Man Factor is an extraordinary account of how people at the very edge of death, often adventurers or explorers, experience a sense of an incorporeal being beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive. Although some extreme adventurers know about the experience - John Geiger's The Third Man Factor is the first book devoted to this virtually unexplored phenomenon.

If only a handful of people had ever experienced the Third Man, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds. But the amazing thing is this: over the years, the experience has occurred again and again, to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, aviators and astronauts. All have escaped traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having experienced the close presence of a helper or guardian. The mysterious force has been explained as everything from hallucination to divine intervention. Recent neurological research suggests something else. The Third Man Factor combines history, scientific analysis and great adventure stories to explain this secret to survival, a Third Man who — in the words of legendary Italian climber Reinhold Messner — "leads you out of the impossible."