The Accidental Survivor is a brutally honest, darkly funny memoir of a life lived at full throttle-often driven by questionable judgement, misplaced confidence, and an enduring belief that things would probably work out in the end. They frequently didn't.
From growing up in England to building a life in the Netherlands, Gavin Teakle's story unfolds through a long chain of near misses, accidents, and moments where events took a sharp and often dangerous turn. There are high-speed motorcycle crashes, sinking boats, cliff falls, muggings in South Africa and Brazil, and more medical emergencies than most people would consider reasonable for one lifetime. Time and again, the same thought returns: "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
Set against a backdrop of international travel and a demanding career spanning engineering, project management, marketing, and quality assurance in the transport and oil and gas industries, this memoir moves across continents and decades. Along the way come goats, pigs, unpredictable au pairs, neurodivergent children, major industrial projects, and the everyday unpredictability of family life.
What emerges is not a story of heroism, transformation, or hard-earned wisdom. There are no neat lessons waiting at the end of each chapter, no dramatic reinvention, and no claim to insight beyond the obvious: that things do not always go to plan, and sometimes the outcome is determined less by skill than by timing, persistence, and luck.
Told with dry humour and a complete absence of self-pity, The Accidental Survivor captures the absurdity of real life as it happens - unfiltered, occasionally chaotic, and often uncomfortable. It is a memoir about survival in its most unpolished form: not overcoming adversity through strength or brilliance, but simply getting through it, again and again.
At its core, this is a story about family, work, travel, risk, and the accumulation of experiences that might seem improbable in isolation but somehow form a coherent life. It reflects the reality that while common sense is often optional, consequences are not - and that survival is not always the result of good decisions.
Sometimes, it is simply a matter of being there at the end of it.
This is not a self-help book. No one becomes enlightened.
But several people probably should have called an ambulance sooner.
外文書商品之書封，為出版社提供之樣本。實際出貨商品，以出版社所提供之現有版本為主。部份書籍，因出版社供應狀況特殊，匯率將依實際狀況做調整。
無庫存之商品，在您完成訂單程序之後，將以空運的方式為你下單調貨。為了縮短等待的時間，建議您將外文書與其他商品分開下單，以獲得最快的取貨速度，平均調貨時間為1~2個月。
為了保護您的權益，「三民網路書店」提供會員七日商品鑑賞期(收到商品為起始日)。
若要辦理退貨，請在商品鑑賞期內寄回，且商品必須是全新狀態與完整包裝(商品、附件、發票、隨貨贈品等)否則恕不接受退貨。
