The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

Rating:
Summary: Don't Pass this one up!
Review: A REAL story told REALLY well.
I listened to it on tape. One of my top five favorite books of all time. I would not have found it if my librarian hadn't suggested it. Couldn't put it down - If you are a man (or woman) in search of true adventure from days gone by then this is the book for you. This insanely difficult journey reveals the true character and spirit of these men in their effort just to stay alive. It feels like you are almost there with them, but glad that you aren't.
A true vision quest.
Buy it-
Read it -
Then give it to a friend - It's that GOOD!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent large format photos and introduction to Sir Ernest
Review: A great book to get if you have never read any others of this amazing adventure. The book is worth getting and provides all the basic information on the journey. But let me add a note about seeing the author at National Geographic Explorers Hall some years ago. I read that the author would be giving a lecture. Not knowing much at all about Shackelton, I marked my schedule and planned to attend. I figured I might be one of a handful of people there like most history book lectures in DC. When I showed up, the line to pick up tickets was going out the door. Worse, it was sold out. Hundreds and hundreds of seats sold out to see the author of this book. I was gracefully given an extra ticket from someone who saw my distress and happily discovered a lifelong historical passion. Perhaps a bit of that "Old Provdy" was at play as the ramifications of this adventure go far beyond 28 men in a boat. I had the fortune to touch the James Caird at the travelling exhibit and there is a magic in the oak that defies explanation. If you want to discover a world of providence, human endurance, unreasonable chance and amazing survival, let this be the first step. As the author of this book said at her lecture, she was once walking in Manhattan with a Shackleton book tucked under her arm when a man approached her on the sidewalk after seeing the book. Wide eyed and smiling, he looked at her and said a single word that meant, he too, was part of the faternity of the moved - "Shackelton!" he said, and walked on. It said all there was to say.