Things I Learned from Falling cover art

Things I Learned from Falling

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Things I Learned from Falling

By: Claire Nelson
Narrated by: Claire Nelson
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

An inspirational and gripping first-person account of determination, adversity and survival against the odds.

In 2018, Claire Nelson made international headlines. She was in her thirties and was beginning to burn out - her hectic London life of work and social activity and striving to do more and do better in the big city was frenetic and stressful. Although she was surrounded by people all of the time, she felt increasingly lonely.

When the anxiety she felt finally brought her to breaking point, Claire decided to take some time off and travelled to Joshua Tree Park in California to hike and clear her head. What happened next was something she could never have anticipated.

While hiking, Claire fell 25 feet, gravely injuring herself and she lay alone in the desert - mistakenly miles off any trail, without a cell phone signal, fighting for her life. She lay in the elements for four days until she was miraculously found - her rescuers had not expected to find her alive.

In THINGS I LEARNED FROM FALLING Claire tells her incredible story and what it taught her about loneliness, anxiety and transformation and how to survive it all.

©2019 Claire Nelson (P)2019 Octopus Publishing Group Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Art & Literature Hiking Journalists, Editors & Publishers Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Personal Success Survival

Critic Reviews

'Uplifting and brave' - Stylist

'A riveting account of loneliness, anxiety and survival' - Cosmopolitan

'A vibrantly physical book' - the Guardian
All stars
Most relevant  
Loved this book: engaging, beautifully woven together, memory seamlessly interlaced with unfolding events, and refreshingly down to earth. I’ll probably listen again.

Loved loved LOVED

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A gripping memoir that dives into the depths of resilience and acceptance of self. Nelson's raw and honest account of surviving a life-threatening fall while hiking alone in the wilderness is utterly captivating. Her journey from recognising her desperate situation to her survival is both harrowing and inspiring, painting a vivid picture of human endurance and the strength found in vulnerability. Nelson's book is an ode to the human spirit, earning its well-deserved five-star rating for its compelling narrative and powerful message of courage, insight and gratitude.

The story consumed me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I couldn’t stop listening to this gripping story. Claire’s writing is beautiful and her strength and courage are phenomenal. Highly recommended.

Engrossing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love survival stories and stories set in the desert so when I heard about Claire's ordeal a year or so ago I was fascinated.
So how great to find she'd written a book about it. It totally delivers on taking you into the experience and details of what it took to survive. and to face the reality that she might not. And the other story, the one about escaping from the "not worth doing until it's on instagram" world, is very relevant and rings very true.
And I liked that it didn't end soon after the euphoria of the rescue, like a Hollywood movie, but carried on into the honest reality of what's involved in a long recovery, physically and emotionally. It wouldn't have been the whole story without that.
Really well written, not a clunky or mind-wandering moment in the whole book.
In fact it was quite surreal at times to go from being totally immersed in a canyon in Joshua Tree at night, with only bats and mice for company - to taking out the earbuds and finding myself walking through empty streets in a world in lockdown, which I'd totally forgotten about for a couple of hours.
Thanks Claire for surviving and for giving us such a great book out of it.

Great Lockdown Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved the authors story and narration. So easy to relate to as a person. So engaging. I listened to this book in a week and only because I had to work, or it would have taken me a lot less.

Gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved listening to this book. Claire's story telling of her miraculous journey is beautiful

a raw and beautiful journey

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and entertaining yarn thank you. I’ve read the book Claire, and enjoyed this equally ta. I really enjoyed all the tips and trips you suggested too. Having been ‘lost’ in the fog in the Snowy Mountains once, I never venture into the bush without a plan left with family, and a PLB. The story of what you did, how you survived, and how you got rescued is a salutary lesson for anyone venturing into the wild. Thanks very much, loved it ;-D

Falling for you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This woman’s strength, resilience, courage and diverse skill set is absolutely inspiring and had me…also a non-cryer, in tears at the end. If you ever see this, you impacted me in so many ways…may see you on a tromp…with our lucky, trusty sticks!

Hear of the Year

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
OMG this is NOT about what she learned from falling. I’m more than halfway and she’s barely talked about he accident, it’s all about her thoughts and feelings and who she is. Her childhood, her career, her friends…newsflash, Claire, I really don’t care that your mother wanted to call you Jessica but your dad didn’t like the name. I don’t care about freakin’ Soho and why you love it so much. Don’t care about London, or the train commute to work…or your friends and their boring life stories too. Don’t care about your desk at work and how it was piled high with cookbooks...this is freaking BORING! And IRRELEVANT! I don’t care about any of it. It’s all just incredibly boring padding! I bought the book to read about your accident and how you recovered and presumably some revelatory experiences. Im well past half way and you’ve talked about the accident for about five minutes. The rest is boring waffle. Your writing is good, sure, you’re a journalist, you can write. But its boring. The subject matter is boring. YOU are boring! No one cares about your innermost ramblings. It’s all just padding. It’s like you had a magazine article’s worth of interesting stuff about your accident and you somehow streeeettttccchhed it out with way too much naval gazing and introspection and over thinking. No one cares that you’re an extroverted introvert or how you behave at parties! TBH I got angry at the constant fluff and padding and this book just annoyed the hell out of me. What a bait and switch! I can’t finish it. I no longer care. Clearly you got rescued. You lived...I no longer care to hear what you may have or may have not learned.

This was sold as a ‘gripping account of her determination to survive’. Its about as gripping as lukewarm tea. The interesting thing is the accident and presumably the rescue. That’s what the book is sold as, an account of that. But you don’t talk about the accident at all, apart from a few rants about pain. That’s it. that’s all. I wish I could get my money back. Worst book I’ve read in ages. I can’t finish this book and that’s very rare for me. It’s a slog of boring, extraneous detail. And so repetitive. I wouldn’t be interested in my best friend’s, or my partner’s innermost thoughts to this degree. Its belly button lint. It’s just not interesting. Boring boring boring boring! Presumably there’s a few pages of interesting stuff, but I can’t slog through this sludge to get to it. I don’t want your whole life story. I wanted the accident story. This is all just boring boring padding! You're a journalist! You know better! You are not that interesting.

filler and padding and she clearly learned nothing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.