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Summary: The Uses of Adversity
Review: The condensation of this into four (4) cassette tapes got me from just East of Montreal all the way through to Port Huron, Michigan, on a very hot day. By the end of tape 4, I was looking out of my air conditioned pickup truck, amazed to see people in short sleeves walking around. Where were their tattered clothes and frostbitten, hunched-up hands? That's what this book does--brings you into the frozen antarctic to virtually experience the adversity of the failed attempt to even get started on the land-trek across antarctica by Shackelton and his group.The liberal readings from diaries, and the different narrative voices and accents give these tapes a certain texture which makes it easier to listen to what could come off as monotony. In this form, then, emerges the story of the phases of this disaster, which is transformed by disciplined men into successive triumphs: first, in keeping the locked-in ship together as long as they did; next, in camping on the ice and then boating to elephant island; next, with six guys sailing an open-bow 22 foot wooden boat over 800 miles to South Georgia island to get help; next, three guys sailing another 150 or so miles to reach a whaling settlement; next, missing the approach and having to trek 22 miles across barren icy uncharted terrain for 36 straight hours thru blasting cold wearing 18-month old clothes and malnourished from almost no carbohydrates during the entire ordeal. All these phases were led by Shackelton, who seems to have slept the least, but thought the most clearly, or at least the most motivationally. The author includes contextualization of this heroic age and its collision with the despondency brought on by the First World War, and also includes a post-mortem on how each team member fared after the rescue of all hands (with only one non-major amputation for gangrenous frostbite), and how each member died. It seems that this adversity epic was the most meaningful thing many of these men ever did. Further on the theme of an Ode to Discipline, is the inclusion of how Shackelton withheld recommendation of certain team members from receiving medals of commendation from the British government, due to Moses-like seemingly minor infractions in the polar desert, which Shackelton nonetheless remembered, and which he felt threatened cataclysm to the welfare of the group unless sternly dealt with on-site, and after-the-fact as well. The author here also contrasts Shackelton with Robert Scott, with whose earlier expedition (the penultimate Scott expedition beforee the one in which Scott froze), showing Shackelton in a comparatively positive light. There are parallels between long drives in the car and long treks through the polar regions. Both must be done while wide awake, but only one version of these ordeals stretches one to the extreme limits of endurance. One residual effect of listening to this book is to cast the modern travails of office work in a new light. Trouble with staff or with opposing counsel? No big deal. Not as tough as skinning penguins and chipping 15 inches of ice buildup off your boat as it sinks from the extra weight in a winter hurricane.
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Summary: A Great Telling of the Greatest Surval Story
Review: The story of the Endurance is aruably the greatest survival story ever told. Against all odds, Ernest Shackleton always looked for a solution to every problem, difficulty, and tragedy that befell him or his crew. Through a combination of intelligence, resourcefullness, amazing courage, and quite a bit of luck, he managed to coordinate the rescue of all of his crew. The extraordinary photographs detail much of the ordeal, and Caroline Alexander's text wonderfully complements them. Any lover of adventure truly has to have this book.
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Summary: Lovely photographs, superb text
Review: It is not very often that a history book can combine thorough research and superb photography to bring to life a truly heroic struggle. "The Endurance" achieves just that. The unimaginable hardship and the cruel beauty of the south pole literally jumps off the page and transports the reader. In addition, the book is successful in presenting Shackleton's expedition as a triumph despite the fact that it did not achieve its scientific goals. Without any doubt, this is the definitive account of the last and most heroic expedition of the age of discovery.
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Summary: This Book is Great!
Review: This is the book that started all the interest in Ernest Shackelton a few years back. If you hurry, you can buy this book and get briefed on the amazing story contained within before the movie comes out. This is one of the most amazing stories you will ever read. It rivals The Long Walk by Rawicz in terms of narrative content, but is better written. I simply cannot fathom the despair and hardship each of these men faced on a daily basis for a year and a half. Fortunately for us, Shackelton had the foresight to take along with him, and accomplished photographer, and Caroline Alexander pairs the narrative with the visuals in a brilliant manner. This will be more than a coffee table book, or conversation starter, it will grip you.
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Summary: This is Adventure...........
Review: If you like adventure.........this is adventure. The author has a way of placing the reader into the book as if you were a crew member of this hard fought expedition. The crew members become real and the many ordeals that they face hold your attention in a realistic way. You feel you too share in the story and it's hard to predict just what's next. You want to take a trek to Antartica without leaving the comforts of home........read and enjoy this compelling story of high adventure, danger and uncertainty.
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Summary: What a journey. enlightening and entertaining
Review: This is one of those stories that proves real life stories can be just as exciting as fictions. Have you ever read Lord of the Rings? If that was the greatest made-up journey ever, I think Endurance can be called the greatest real-life journey ever. You can expect as much excitments and anxieties from Endurance as you can expect from Lord of the Rings. So get the audio tape, and start listening---it's both enlightening and entertaining. (The book has all those pictures, but they kill imaginations. But when you listen, wild dreams can fly as far as the sky.)
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Summary: The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
Review: WARNING! This true account of an Anartic expidition will cause you to loose sleep. Just the right mixture of story and detail. I highly recomend it.
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Summary: A riveting story of strength, courage and hope - & endurance
Review: I got this book as a Christmas present. (One of the best presents in quite a while) The story itself is beautiful and brutal at the same time. Hurley's photos are inspiring, austere and almost surreal art. When coupled with the story itself they are overwhelming. I think what I found so compelling was to read a few pages and see Hurley's pictures of these events so that you feel like you know the men, the ship and the dogs (& Mrs. Chippy). The pictures taken at night of the Endurance frozen in the ice are, I think, the most incredible visions I have seen in a book. I actually read this book twice in a week because I enjoyed it so much. This is from a time when men were men and dogs were dogs!
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Summary: An Incredible Adventure!
Review: Ernest Shackleton set out in 1914 on an expedition to cross the Antarctic continent on foot. He had 20 odd crew members and a sturdy little ship named "Endurance". He couldn't have found a more aptly named sailing ship if he had tried! What follows in this terrific book is a tale of "endurance" you can hardly believe is true. Put together from diaries, journals and other documents(some never before seen in print),this journey leads you across ice floes, into hurricane driven seas and up and down (sometimes by the seat of their pants)mountain passes before it all comes to an end. Better yet you are made to feel the reality of it by the starkly beautiful photographs of Frank Hurley, the ship's photographer. You see the men on board ship and the ship as it is slowly crushed by the ice. You also see the faces of each man which gives the book an intimacy many others on this same subject do not have. A great book for boys especially!
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Summary: The ONE Shackleton book to get!
Review: Yes, there have been many books about Shackleton's famous Antarctic expedition: the one that should have become tragic, but amazingly did not. Some of these books are recently published. Why spend your money on this one? Because it offers the best combination of narrative, photographs, and assessment of the expedition's success. Alexander chooses to let the story unfold from the multiple perspectives of those who lived it. You get absolutely outstanding photos (by Frank Hurley, the expedition photographer), diary excerpts (sometimes revealing different perspectives of the same event), and Alexander's sure-handed narrative that never succumbs to sensationalistic "second-guessing." The photos are beautifully integrated with the text, presented at just the right places (and they are graphically sharp and clear). The captions vary, sometimes using Alexander's own observations, sometimes quoting from the diaries of the men who, as Shackleton put it, had "been to Hell" and all returned. If you only have time to read one book about this extraordinary tale of survival, this is the ONE. A worthy purchase, as you will likely find yourself going back to browse after the first reading.
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