Wow!!
How time flies!
I apologize that it’s been a full two months since my last review.
I do want to thank everyone for the great comments on
The Screwtape Letters
That was my biggest response yet, and it’s no surprise why; it’s really a great book.
Hopefully today’s review will also find a responsive audience!
The subject of today’s review is
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.
When I first started reading non-fiction books a few years ago, I read this little gem and have been hooked on non-fiction ever since.
This is an amazing story of adventure, of overcoming hardships and beating incredible odds in order to survive.
This story is all the more amazing because it actually happened.
In 1914, a British expedition led by a man named Ernest Shackleton set sail 
with the goal of being the first people to journey across Antarctica on foot. Shackleton had been on a few previous exploratory trips to the “White Continent” and had even gotten within about 100 miles of the South Pole. This trip, however, was not to be nearly as successful as previous trips. Before they could reach the point where they would dock their ship and begin their trans-continental trek, the ship became trapped in the drifting pack ice. And there it stayed, stuck, for 9 months until finally the surging ice crushed the ship. Suddenly, the crew was stuck thousands of miles from civilization in a frozen wilderness, without a way to get home. Taking three small boats and whatever supplies they could carry with them, the crew abandoned the wrecked ship and headed out on a trek of a different sort…a trek of survival. What follows is an incredible story of endurance and superb leadership from Shackleton. But if you want to know the rest of this fantastic story, you’ll have to read the book. I will tell you that almost a year after losing their ship, the crew was saved without losing a
single life. Truly amazing.
Unlike some other books I’ve reviewed, this one is a quick read (288 pages) and I assure you that it will be well worth your time. So, if you’re looking for adventure, have always wondered how you’d survive the Antarctic wilderness, or want to read a story of incredible determination, effort and leadership, I recommend you Buy the Book!
2 comments:
This is truly an amazing human feat. However, at the end of it all I have to ask "Why?" Why did Shakelton to it? Why put so many lives at such risk? What were his primary motives? Was it exploration or more self-serving? Regardless, this was an outstanding read. There also have been several PBS documentaries about this story that are equally compelling.
This is such a great book. I love a good REAL adventure.
Also--I just finished reading The Worst Hard Time. Very good read as well. Keith picked it up after I did and he's enjoying it as well. I hope he finishes it by Monday though--it's due back at the library then!
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