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Summary: Shackleton's Incredable Voyage
Review: Shackleton's Voyage by Donald Barr Chidsey is the most dramatic tale of survival against all odds that I have read since Gary Paulsen's Hatchet. The thing that fascinated me most in this book was the fact that after Shackleton had failed on his first attempt to discover the South Pole, he proceeded to try again, some six years later, with a crew of 26, aboard the greatest ship of the time, the Endurance. It fascinated me because I couldn't understand why, after seeing the devastation and hardships that could, and would be faced, he would do it again. The best part of the story occurs in the last 30 pages or so, when Shackleton decides the only way they will ever make it out alive is by walking out of their own icy tomb. There's a quote in this section that I especially liked, where things finally turn around. It is the last paragraph, on page 161. "Why not? Somebody had to go and get help. The men might survive a winter on this highly inhospitable island, but with the coming of spring in September, they could not reasonably hope to be spotted and rescued by some stray whaler. So they would have to go and get their own help; and the person to do that, obviously, was Earnest Henry Shackleton. They were his boys weren't they?" I was mesmerized by this quote, because it shows that these explorers were finally taking things into their own hands.The theme of this story is that no matter how bad things are, you should never give up hope. The commitment to hope, to overcoming what seems impossible, is something that I feel very strongly about because it is a decision to always push forward, to go on with life, to not surrender. The only thing that these stranded men had left was hope, and with no safe shelter, inadequate clothing, nothing but pemmican to eat day after day, and sheer, unbearable boredom, hope was the only thing they had left. With things going so horribly, if they gave up hope, they might as well have given up their lives. This theme relates to me, being the eternal optimist that I am, because I hold hope close to my heart. As an optimist, and also an athlete and a person with a learning disability, I have found over and over again, that it is the belief that things can always be better that keeps you in the game of life. Without hope that belief would be gone. This is a book well worth the read. It is an exciting and intriguing adventure that introduces you to the early exploration of the Antarctic. It is an awesome adventure where 26 ordinary men battle the elements and themselves . I recommend this book so strongly because it's one that even if you're not an explorer you would like to imagine yourself as one.
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Summary: A Remarkable Story About a Remarkable Man
Review: This book chronicles the true saga of Mr. Shackelton and his group of hand-picked Antartic explorers in one of the greatest survivalist stories in history. With detailed descriptions of the day-to-day struggles of a group of marooned men and several historical photographs, this extraordinary book is a tribute not only to these men in particular, but to the human spirit in general. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading an uplifting non-fiction adventure story with a very positive sense of life.
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Summary: Man's Greatest Story of Survival and Rescue
Review: Back when there were 109 reviews and I contemplated adding one, I asked myself "Why would someone add the 110th review for a book that already had 109?" Now that there are 302, and I'm finally getting around to adding one, the answer is the same as it was then: because the story is that compelling. I'll leave it to others to fill in the details of Shackleton's 5 ordeals: months on the Antarctic ice in fabric tents; 100 miles in the frigid seas in 3 open rowboats; crossing 800 miles of the Drake passage---the only area of the globe where the lines of longitude are uninterrupted by landmass---in a 22-foot lifeboat with a meager sail... surviving not only 60-foot swells called the "Cape Horn Rollers" but a hurricane that claimed a 500-ton steamer; traversing 12 miles of the uncharted 6,000-foot glacier mountains of South Georgia island with only a pick, 50-feet of rope, and nails in their soles; and finally persisting 4 months through 4 attempts to rescue their comrades. Here's my contribution. Where others have equivocated, let me clarify for you, this is Man's greatest story of survival and rescue. And Lansing's novelized account is the one that captures the story in its full drama and will etch it indelibly into one's mind. I recently sent a copy of the new, pictorialized edition---my first reading was of a text-only 1959 library copy---to a friend and apologized that the pictures might make it hard to let the imagination do its full work. I encourage you to enjoy the unadorned story, as a novel, first if you can. If like me, you are of a mind to value resourcefulness and indefatigability, then you too will probably find yourself under Shackleton's spell for your remaining days. Enjoy.
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Summary: Nothing is so bad that it can't get worse
Review: This book is one of the few exceptional -absolutely execptional- tales of survival and it proves the maxim that nothing is so bad that it can't get worse. But also it proves that you can know the end of a story - it is a well known fact that Shackleton brought all his men through this arduous trial and all survived - and it doesn't spoil the story at all. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, but it is a good deal harder. The bare-bones of the story are that Shackleton and his team left civillisation in 1914 in the Endurance to travel to attempt to reach the South Pole - a trip he had tried and failed by only a couple of hundred miles or so to achive in 1908. Amundsen had already reached the pole first but for Shackleton it was unfinished business. The Endurance had been built to push through the pack ice, but conditions proved too much and it was trapped in pack ice. Summer wore on and there was no escape - the winds were in the wrong direction - then winter hit and they were trapped in their boat. They settled in to a routine until the ice went against them and cracked the Endurance. Shackleton realised the only way out was on their own, so they abandoned the boat and made for the pack ice at first dragging the boats, then relying a floe to carry them north where they might find more supplies, or be rescued. In the end they had to rescue themselves and this is the story of their indomitable courage and strength to survive under incredibly harsh conditions and in grave discomfort. We are talking about camping out in antartica - in less than adequate shelter, with essentially starvation rations, no heating, barely adequate clothing. Lansing tells this story in a sparing style and it really works. He has had access to (I think) all the diaries available from men who kept them on the trip and they are very revealing of both personalities and foibles of the various characters who made up the trip - and these aren't all a bunch of saintly characters pulling together for the sake of their team and mutual survival - they fight, some are occassionally selfish, they love their dogs but have almost no compunction of putting them down when they have to - and they are very real and human. Lansing also brings to light some of the things you wouldn't think about it - the incredible boredom that they all felt, that they were generally alternatvely wracked by either gripping hunger or desparate need for survival and how to escape - the one emotion replacing the other depending on conditions. He also explains some of the things you wouldn't even think to ask - how they went to the toilet for instance, the conditions inside the huts and the tents and so on. It brings a very vivd picture of life as it must have been for the group. And really, nothing isn't so bad that it can't get worse. Each time you think that Shackleton is about to win there is a small disaster, or the elements go against them - they are constantly battling for their lives with decreasing odds of their survival. Even once they make it off the floe and onto land they have to move again to a safer landing place - and then they must work out how to get help. The nearest land is Chile some 500 miles away but it is almost impossible to get to because of wind and current, so they must try to South Georgia, over 800 miles away and a tiny speck of an island 25 miles across and they only thing in their way between Antartica and South Africa. Hardly an easy thing find in an open 22 foot boat. I know recently they tried to re-enact the voyage of Shackleton in his tiny boat - the James Caird - but without success as storms forced them to abandon the attempt. And that was a luxury trip compared to Shackleton's - the conditions on board were appalling - with stones for ballast - very little room and the ever present rotting reindeer hair from their sleeping bags. It is all credit to their navigator Frank Worsley that they reached South Georgia at all....but then they had had to land on the wrong side of the island due to conditions......but read the book - definitely read it..... This book would make a great adventure book to introduce Antarctic exploration for younger children or teenagers as it is so vivid and so exciting. They are chased by killer whales and leopard seals, they are constantly fighting the elements and they are if nothing else a very human group of people. This is one of the best books of survival I have ever read and is highly recommended.
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Summary: Great adventure...with a twist
Review: This fast-paced story is one of the greatest adventure stories of modern history. Ernest Shackleton's crew spent over one year trapped in the frozen Weddell Sea. In the end every member of the crew survived. The most puzzling part of this story, though, is the mystery of "The Extra Crewmember". The expedition began with a total of 28 men, but returned with 29. Nobody could account for the extra person. Crew manifests were checked and double-checked, and each crew member was interviewed in detail about their recollection of who was in the group at the beginning and end of the journey. There are many theories to this day that a French fisherman, who was eager to thwart Britain's attempt to be the first to cross Antarctica, snuck abord the Endurance at night just after the crew departed from South Georgia Island. Unfortunately, this edition does not address this mystery, which is detailed in the book "Shackleton's Little Friend" (1974).
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Summary: Unbelievably compelling
Review: Lansing writes an unbelievably compelling book about this extraordinary journey. What is amazing about Lansing's writing is that he includes terrific detail but it is absolutely NEVER boring. The time on the ship, the ice floes, the open boats, the islands are all beautifully described so that you have a detailed sense of the setting and can appreciate the gargantuan task that layed before these men. The film by Branagh doesn't even remotely come close to how amazing and exciting this story is. A must read for anyone who likes nonfiction adventure and history.
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Summary: Just simply incredible.......
Review: This is a story anyone evenly remotely interested in high adventure should make time to read. And you think you have troubles? You need to read this amazing story. It is full of incredible events and stars some of the most interesting and powerful characters. Ernest Shackleton has got to be rated one of the top five leaders in all history. His concern and dedication toward his crew astounds. Just when you think that things are getting better for the crew of Endurance.......wham, another major hurtle. You can barely put this book down. It is unreal how strong and durable these men were during the most adverse of conditions. The story is well written by the author and what a story it is. He makes you feel like you are the 29th crew member with his phrasing and with his descriptions of Antarctic exploration. "Endurance" is the perfect word for it's title. I hope you will not miss this epic adventure. These were men like no others I know of, during a time when they didn't have the modern adventurer's high tech systems of communication and rescue. Their bravery and their physical powers are off the scale. I can't recommend this book more highly to you. If you even half-like adventure, this one's for you. It pales our modern day adventurers. I think it is the Adventure of the Millenium, bar none. Read it.
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Summary: ¿Through endurance, we conquer.¿
Review: Ernest Shackleton is one of the most amazing explorers ever to have lived. I think his accomplishments are underrated, and his place in history deserved. This is a story of a shipwrecked attempt to traverse the entire Antartic continent. After Shackleton's boat, The Endurance, was caught in dangerous pack ice the crew was forced to abandon the ship. For 2 years, they lived in the harshest climate in the world, subsisting on seals, penguins, and "hoosh." Their spirits were kept high by the commanding leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton. In an almost unbelievable tale, Shackleton realizes that they stand no chance stranded on the pack ice waiting for rescue. After several failed attempts to trek his men and all of his equipment across the ice, it was decided that some of the men would have to sail for the whaling stations of South Georgia Island. Shackleton, and 4 men set sail in one of the rescue boats, promising to return for the other men. After many days of gale force wind and swells that easily could have capsized their boat, they arrived at South Georgia Island. Upon their arrival, they realized that the winds had landed them on the wrong side of the island and they would have to traverse a mountain range to get to the whaling stations. Leaving 2 more weak men at the landing site, Shackleton and the others spent 3 days without sleep trying to get across the mountain range. After many wrong turns, and having to back track several times, the finally made it to the whaling stations. They quickly gathered the rescue team, and retrieved the 2 men left at the other side of the island. Then they set sail for the ship wreck only to find the pack ice was too dangerous to get close enough for a rescue. After 3 attempts and several days at sea, the men are finally rescued. What is more amazing than the leadership and courage that Shackleton and his men displayed, is that not one of them died. It is truly a testament to the explorer's spirit that Shackleton kept his men together and their morale high to get them through this nightmare. This book is a must read.
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Summary: An Amazing True Life Adventure Story
Review: I purchased this book for my husband, never intending on reading it myself, but after his raves and recommendations I finally picked it up, and read it with great relish from page 1 to the end. This is surely one of the greatest true life adventure stories of all time. Even though I knew the eventual outcome of this survival tale, I was kept completely captivated by the events as they unfolded, and the almost unbelievable conditions that these men faced. Lansing's well written book presents the facts in a story form that flows easily from event to event. I purchased the illustrated edition, and the wonderful photos were well worth the extra cost. Hurley's photos illustrated the book in a way that no words could, and I found myself frequently turning back to review them.
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Summary: How did they do it? you wouldn't believe it as a movie.
Review: If ever a ship was aptly named, it was the Endurance! I sat up til 2 in the morning to finish this book, I just had to do it. I wish I could give it seven stars. Any single part of the crew's journey would have merited being a major achievement of survival in any age, but they strung together a year on the ice, then dragging their boats across the frozen flows, sailing to Elephant Island as the ice broke up, a party then sailing over 1000 km to South Georgia (through a major storm in an open boat) largely through dead reckoning, being able to take only three or fourth sightings, landing on the wrong side of the island and then marching across to raise the alarm. Incidentally, as I read the account of the crossing of the island (albeit at 1.30 am) I had the impression that it was all a bit of a stroll in the park compared with what they had been through previously,
.... and yet, they had only 18 month old fur suits, minimal food and a few lengths of rope,........and yet they had been on small boats in freezing weather for months ....and yet they made the first crossin of the Island, which was not crossed again until the 50's, by a fully equipped team of mountaineers and no-one has managed the crossing in a shorter time than they managed...... and yet less than a day after they crossed a blizzard came in from the Antarctic that would have killed them in the open... and then later I saw photos of the "park" they strolled!! ice covered crevasses, sheer cliffs and icewalls.... It then took months and four attempts to rescue the remainder of the crew on Elephant Island. And Shackleton did not relax until he had retrieved the rest of his crew, all alive and largely well (one had had a frostbitten foot successfully amputated, using only a little chloroform and a scalpel), nearly six months after he set off for South Georgia. Read this book, you will not be disappointed> It will give you a sense of perspective and reality, as you fume in traffic or about the dropkick at the other end of the phone. When an athlete or celebrity, politician or other minor achiever is cited as someone or other's hero, you can think about a real hero who provided indefatigable leadership under the most trying circumstance for nearly 2 years, and who brought his whole crew back alive, who showed courage and never, ever gave up; Sir Earnest Shackleton.
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