Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage,   ISBN:9780786706211

Customer Rating: 

"ENDURANCE", what a tale. It is hard to imagine a modern group of men from the civilized world enduring such an adventure. Surrounded by all our modern technology, modern civilized man is probably not capable of "enduring" such a physical and mental epic. Modern technology would not allow the "Endurance" epic to unfold, the crew would be rescued within hours. Ernest Shackleton's tough physical and mental leadership would serve him well as a whale of a team leader in one of our modern professional sports leagues.

Nevada BookWorm

Customer Rating: 

Fascinating story which is very well written. The willpower of these men, especially Shackleton, cannot be surpassed. By no rights should these men have survived and yet not a single man died. It's a testement to the sheer heroism and the sheer willpower to survive that these men survived well over a year on the most remote region of the planet. A very good story and very well written. Highly recommended!

Customer Rating: 

This is simply one of the most amazing survival stories of our time. The writing is superb, formulated from the many accounts as recorded in personal journals and testimonials of the crew of Endurance. Several things appealed to me in this page-turning narrative that are, I believe, unique to the time of this expedition as well as to the type of person who persevered through this doomed historic attempt to land-cross the Antarctic, known as the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914. The summary of the content of the book is well-documented through other reviews. These are only a reflection of some personal observations.

Ernest Shackleton and his crew were a rare combination of men who decided, early on, that despite the odds against them they would not give in to hopelessness, they would maintain order in their days and respect in their relationships, and that above all they would remain supportive of one another, to the last man. It came to me time and again that these men were intelligent, level-headed, and compassionate. When the journal entries were quoted directly, I was amazed at the grammatical accuracy and their choices of vocabulary and style in their narratives. Many of these men might have written stunning publishable accounts on their own accord.

Throughout the story, it becomes clear that the skills of each special crewman were drawn upon for sustenance and literal survival. It's a tribute to them all that they were able to use their brains foremost as the most important tool in the battle against a frozen nature and the relentless and restless sea. To have navigated to a small island (South Georgia) through Drake's Passage in an open boat, with staggering fatigue and with all the elements stacked against them, the men devoted to reaching the whaling port for help were nothing short of incredible. As a telling tribute, the Norwegian whaling captains gave these men a standing salute for having navigated, much less survived, the trip. Their overland trip to reach the whaling station was another super-human feat that even today rattles the most technical ice-climbing specialists.

This story came after my reading of "Into Thin Air" by John Krakauer and another reading of "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastian Junger. All demonstrate the resolve of the human drive-to-survive in the face of the terror of unrelenting nature. The crew of the Endurance accomplished the near-impossible feat of almost two years of abandonment amongst the most terrible environment on earth; an accomplishment I wonder whether could be done today without the technological advances and comforts we depend upon. It was actually refreshing to read of a real-life situation where the men were devoted to each others well-being, and where all the men survived the ordeal with the skilled leadership of Shackleton.

The crew of the Endurance should be an example of what good can be seen and realized in human endeavors.

I wish someday an up-and-coming Peter Jackson would create a film that included the experiences of the men on Endurance, as well as the similarly ill-fated Aurora, sister-ship of the Expedition approaching the Antarctic continent from Australia as the supplier and ride home!

Customer Rating: 

This book is well written and gives a harrowing account of early explorers to an extreme and inhospitable place. The author doesn't cut corners or use unnecessary literary devices, because the truth is way too interesting to bother with embellishments. I wouldn't hand this to a 10 year old, but jr high or older would enjoy this history adventure.

Customer Rating: 

I am disappointed to tell you that I have not received this book. Where is it?