Brave

by Mark Whittaker

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Biography, Other. Paperback RRP $34.99

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

Walkley Award winning journalist Mark Whittaker, has written a unique book about ordinary men and women who perform incredible acts of bravery - entering a flooded stormwater drain to rescue a child,  plunging into a burning car to rescue a woman and her child and swimming out to a man who had just been attacked by a shark. These are just some of the dozen stories from the everyday heroes Whittaker has interviewed.
The interviews explore not only how people make a split second decision to help someone, but also the aftermath of their actions. Many suffer guilt that they did not save another or become extremely traumatised. And in some cases it destroys their lives. Many had no counselling or any form of help at all and ironically ended up in worse shape than some of the people that they rescued.


You may even remember hearing about some of the incidents in the book, I certainly did. This book is well worth reading.