Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 163
 Incredible read for any fan of an Adventure Story November 24, 2006
H. Hartley (Los Angeles)
Wow is all I can say - this book is amazing and so are the photos. I had the chanc to see a museum tour that was dedicated to this story. I started this book early in the evening and was unable to put it down until the early morning when I read the last page.
This is an incredible story of human courage, leadership, and adventure. This is truly a must read.
Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition November 10, 2006
K. Busch-Sorensen (San Diego, CA USA)
An incredible book. A must read for any couch, or an all-out, adventurer.
Gripping and Beautiful Account of Survival November 6, 2006
D. S. Thurlow (Alaska)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Caroline Alexander's "The Endurance" was published in 1998 as a companion volume to the American Museum of Natural History's Shackleton Exhibit, but it easily stands on its own as a beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated account of Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916.
Shackleton's expedition was trapped in the ice off the Antarctic Coast and forced to drift with the icepack. When their ship, the Endurance, was crushed by the ice, Shackleton led his men hundreds of miles over the ice and then by small boat to barren Elephant Island at the very tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The dangers of this trip can scarcely be exaggerated; Shackleton was rightly acclaimed a hero for having gotten all his men safely to that point. But Shackleton then sailed in a small boat with a handful of companions across the stormy South Atlantic to the island of South Georgia to reach a whaling station. Making landfall on the wrong side of the island, Shackleton and two companions made the first ever crossing of the interior of South Georgia to summon help at the whaling station. Ultimately, all of his men were rescued.
Shackleton's expedition failed in its primary objective of exploration, and the news of the rescue was lost in the bloody chaos of the First World War. A nice postscript recounts the further history of the expedition's members.
Alexander's book and the American Museum of Natural History's exhibit went far to acquaint Americans with Shackleton's remarkable feat of leadership and fortitude under extreme adversity. Alexander recounts the story in simple but evocative prose. The publication of a stunning collection of photographs by expedition member Frank Hurley brings a sense of dramatic scale and personal detail to the narrative.
This book is highly recommended to those readers interested in Shackleton's expedition and those interested in the Antarctic itself.
An essential book July 23, 2006
Joseph Davis (Calgary, Alberta Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is such a good book, because of the way it is written, and also because of the incredible adventure it describes. It is the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to Antarctica. Shackleton had been to the Antarctic twice before. The first time he accompanied Robert Falcon Scott in 1901 in an attempt to reach the as yet unclaimed South Pole and claim it for Great Britain. They were unsuccessful and came very close to losing their lives. The significant problems that went with traveling in the Antarctic were that no one lived there (and so no one was there to help if you got into trouble), nothing lived in the interior (no plants or animals to feed on), and the climatic conditions were horrific (snow, ice, wind speeds of up to 200 miles an hour and temperatures as low as -100 degrees Fahrenheit). Scott proved to be a very difficult man to travel with -arrogant, abusive and not particularly competent, which is not what you are looking for in the leader of such an expedition. The next time he journeyed south, in 1908, Shackleton, as the leader, chose his own men, and made his own mistakes, such as taking a team of ponies that were supposed to pull the sledges. The ponies were very ill-suited to such an environment and were eventually shot and eaten. This expedition was also a failure, but Shackleton had again learned a lot from the experience. By the end of 1912 the South Pole had been conquered by the Norwegian Amundson, and Shackleton's rival, Scott, had perished with all of his men only eleven miles from a supply depot that would have saved their lives. Now the only significant prize left to be achieved in the Antarctic was the traversing of the continent from one side to the other. Thus Shackleton's 1914 expedition was called the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, left England and headed south on August 8, 1914. It stopped in Buenos Aires to pick up the last of its crew members and 69 Canadian sled dogs. One of the crew members who came on in Buenos Aires was an Australian photographer by the name of Frank Hurley. One of the best features of this book is the multitude of spectacular black and white photographs that he took and preserved all through the tremendous hardships to follow. The pictures really make the book come alive. The author, Caroline Alexander, also supplements her story with excerpted passages from the journals of the expedition crew. Again, this adds a lot to the book; it's as if the men are talking directly to you from across a gulf of almost 100 years.
After running into the worst pack ice conditions on record, the Endurance was iced in before making landfall on the Antarctic continent. The adventure then changed from one of exploration to one of survival under the most harrowing of circumstances.
This book reads like a work of fiction and is full of improbable episodes, tragedies and triumphs. I will not give any more details so as not to spoil the suspense if you choose to read it, as I hope you do. It is also studded with wonderful quotations from the above mentioned diaries. Here is one of my favourites from the diary of the ship's Captain, Frank Worsley:
'When men were as tired as we were, their nerves are on edge, and it is necessary for each man to take pains not to irritate the others. On this march we treated each other with a good deal more consideration than we would have done in normal circumstances. Never is etiquette and good form observed more carefully than by experienced travelers when they find themselves in a tight place.'
The topic of leadership is a popular one in business and government these days, with seminars, programs and books proliferating. A lot of money is being made but I wonder how much true leadership is resulting. I suspect that a reading of this book would be worth as much as 80% what the leadership industry grinds out. True leadership was what got the members of the Endurance through their incredible ordeal. One could do worse when confronted with a personal challenge of any sort than to remember Shackleton and his men, and what they went through with such intelligence, resolve, and good grace.
 Real adventure March 20, 2006
Jordi Manye (Barcelona, CATALONIA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's a book that takes you to an incredible adventure. Photogrpahs make it even more exciting !
Showing reviews 16-20 of 163
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