Rating: 
Summary: Incredible
Review: I don't think I can add much to the many reviews that have been written about this book. Caroline Alexander has captured the determination of the sailors, as well as the foreboding of the sea and ice. I've never felt so completely transported by a book before, and often found myself shivering as I read it. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book. I plan to give it to many friends and relatives as presents.
Rating:
Summary: endurance
Review: Great book....could not put it down once started reading.
Incredible journey these men undertook and survived.
Excellent!!
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Book About A Remarkable Story
Review: As the title of my review suggests, I can hardly offer enough praise for this book. Caroline Alexander's "The Endurance" is a fantastic book, masterfully bringing to life Shackleton's remarkable adventure. Prior to reading the book, I was familiar with Shackleton's expedition from various magazine and television specials and wondered if another account of the story was worth reading. With this book, the answer is absolutely yes. Ms. Alexander does a skillful job intertwining her narrative with diary and journal entries, written accounts such as books and articles, and interviews with family members. The book is well researched and written in a concise and enjoyable, storyteller's prose. In addition to the writing, the author includes numerous photographs from Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer. These pictures are a great addition to the story. They allow the reader to "fill-in" visual images of the setting and the expedition, so that the author can concentrate on the story and the crew. The reader's time is not spent on overly drawn-out descriptions, but rather on the personalities of the crew, Shackleton's leadership skills, the perils of the journey and the human spirit displayed by all the men involved. Simply put, this book makes its readers feel good; you will admire these men and enjoy their story.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book
Review: Well written and superbly documented book on Shackleton's heroic but ill-fated antarctic expedition. The photos are worth the price of the book by themselves--and even they have a dramatic story--they were retrieved by Hurley, the ship's photographer, after having been submerged in water for a number of days as the ship was finally breaking up. Hurley kept a detailed diary and his comments on the men are one of the most interesting aspects of the book. We learn that while the men were stranded on the pack ice, many of them often with very little to do at that point, the tireless and indefatigable ship's carpenter was hard at work patching up the two long boats--their only hope of rescue--with a combination of penguin fat and blood. And that the strongest man in the crew, (unfortunately I don't recall his name), although tough and dependable, occasionally caused friction among the men with his "bullying manner." Shackleton, who knew his men well, observed this and took steps to minimize it by keeping the man with him rather than leaving him alone with the rest of the crew. Shackleton comes across as a fine leader, almost singlehandedly keeping the morale of the men up despite knowing full well their desperate circumsances. The 800-mile voyage of the long boat from the pack ice where they were trapped to their landing on South Georgia Island, and their crossing of the interior of the island (which had never been done either), is one of the most amazing seafaring feats and tales of survival of all time. After having made the voyage, they could easily have perished in a crevasse or crevice crossing the interior of the island, but they survived this final dangerous crossing and made it to Norwegian whaling station on the other side of the island, where they were finally able to get help. Their meeting with the Norwegians, no strangers themselves to the dangers of arctic waters, and who were rightly amazed by this heroic feat, also makes for interesting reading. But the tale didn't stop there. Because of the war and beaurocratic delays, it was almost a year before Shackleton could get back to the pack ice to rescue the rest of his men--and with a steel Argentinian tugboat rather than a British ship. It took him three tries and even then he only just got them out before the pack ice closed up again. Overall, a dramatic and absorbing account of an amazing expedition. This is book to curl up with near the fire with a hot cup of tea on a cold wintry night, with the freezing wind howling outside like the groans of the Endurance as it was crushed by the pack ice.
Rating:
Summary: what humans endure
Review: This book is by far the epitime of the human spirit. How we can survive anything thrown at us; simply with a will to survive. i try and place myself in this situation and can not fathom how it was, not in the slightest. These men were heros dspite not accomplishing their goals. read it now and read it again read it to your children to prove to them anything can be done and to never give up
Rating:
Summary: When Authors Bring Respect to the Project, It Shows
Review: Ms. Alexander assembled a wonderful work that shows her appreciation for the determination that Shackleton and his crew possessed. I read this immediately after finishing Shackleton's memoir of the journey "South." Because Sir Ernest glosses over some of the personality conflicts within the crew, "Endurance" brought a new perspective to this amazing account of survival. I think the book personalized the struggle more. The result was a complete picture, factually and emotionally, of the entire expedition.
Rating:
Summary: A glorious and emotional read
Review: On p163 of this work, the Irishman Ernest Shackleton and two of his 27 colleagues are near the end of their harrowing journey fully 18 months since they had laid eyes on another human outside their own party. They come across the bodies of several seals bearing bullet wounds. Shackleton later wrote of this moment that the evidence of man was often " one of destruction". The tragic irony of this comment is not lost on the modern reader as over those 18 months his "betters" and European Royalty were engaged in the most horrific slaughter of millions of citizens in the "Great War" of 1914-1918. Despite the trials that Shackleton and his 27 colleagues endured, they lived. Much of a generation of young men in Europe did not.
Nevertheless, the abiding memory of this book and what makes it ever so much more than "overcoming adversity" or a "boy's own adventure" is the humanity evidenced by its participants, good and not so good, but always touching. Allow me to mention just two.
Henry "Chippy" McNish, a Scot, brought his cat along on the expedition. Let it be noted that without Chippy McNish and his carpentry skills the final 17 day 900 mile voyage of the seven metre James Caird through a hurricane encountered in the most challenging ocean on earth would have been impossible. But the overriding factor in the success of the rescue of all men was clearly Shackleton's leadership throughout including putting Chippy McNish in his place following the only rebellious note in the entire expedition. But Chippy could never forgive, and never forgave, Shackleton for killing his cat which had been done to in "the best interests" of the expedition's survival. How human is Chippy's response!
The second incident concerns the leader himself. In the period between his safe landing at King Haakon Bay, South Georgia Island on 19th May 1916 and his rescue of those remaining 22 team members waiting on Elephant Island on 30th August 1916, his hair turned white with worry in trying to organize their rescue against amazing Government and Admiralty intransigence. He wrote to his wife after the rescue " I have done it. Damn the Admiralty ... not a life lost and we have been through Hell.." (p. 185). How human is that!
This is splendid, splendid book that should be bought in hardcover. The American Museum of Natural History are to be congratulated on their support of this work. Caroline Alexander has done a wonderful job in telling the tale and Frank Hurley's original photographs add immediacy to the telling of it. It lacks an index. The IMAX film SHACKLETON'S ANTARCTIC VOYAGE, a 40 minute reconstruction of the event which is frankly rivetting, might be seen as complementary to this work.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Damn Survival Story Ever Told!
Review: I came across this book from an "Outside Magazine" review
and while searching for it,I came by coincedence another CLASS-X "Mawsons Will" and I read both back to back (no pun intended)
both stories were during the same era (1800's)and inter-twined
with the main charachters. In my opinion the Endurance is "The
Best Damn Survival Story Ever Told".
Rating:
Summary: "These are Men!"
Review: "Endurance" is one of the best books on Antarctic exploration - good research, the best reproduction of original photographs by Ponting and Hurley. But it was written by a woman and Antarctica before WWI was a man's world. Shackleton was mortified that Britain in the midst of WWI carnage was indifferent to the plight of his men stranded on Elephant Island. He had just completed the most difficult sea voyage of all time and Ms Alexander quotes the accolades of the Norse sea captains but omits the ultimate:"These are Men!"
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, a must for adventure readers!
Review: After reading Alfred Lansing's book "Endurance" multiple times (and buying it multiple times - since every time I lent it to someone it got passed along and didn't find its way back to me) I yearned for more. My husband gave this book to me for my birthday, and it has become part of my small, and prized, permanent book collection. Caroline Alexander's beautiful writing about this extraordinary journey, coupled with the photographs of Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer, are what make this book really special. Don't wait - read it!
| 
