One man’s incredible story of surviving 438 days lost at sea, On November 17, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. When he washed ashore on January 29, 2014, he had arrived in the Marshall Islands, 9,000 miles away.

For fourteen months, Alvarenga survived constant shark attacks. He learned to catch fish with his bare hands. He built a fish net from a pair of empty plastic bottles. Taking apart the outboard motor, he fashioned a huge fishhook. Using fish vertebrae as needles, he stitched together his own clothes.

The group didn't enjoy the book. After an interesting start, it quickly became very tedious and some skimmed the middle of the book, which was long and repetitive. While it was undoubtedly a remarkable achievement to survive 438 days adrift at sea, it was ultimately a fairly typical 'guy succeeds against all the odds' survival story. The story was told in the third person and most did not warm to the writing style.