Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage in The Roundtable

Jun 26, 2017 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, non-fiction, nautical, 2017, survival, science-nature

This is a pretty impressive survival story--and I like my survival stories, believe me--but something bugged me throughout the entire book that I've had difficulty articulating. The crew of the Endurance deserve their accolades for sheer determination, but the entire purpose of the Endurance's expedition to begin with, the one they never even had the chance to start, was based on pure hubris and a sort of "rah-rah Britannia" attitude that I wish the author had analyzed further. Oh no, the U.S. a This is a pretty impressive survival story--and I like my survival stories, believe me--but something bugged me throughout the entire book that I've had difficulty articulating. The crew of the Endurance deserve their accolades for sheer determination, but the entire purpose of the Endurance's expedition to begin with, the one they never even had the chance to start, was based on pure hubris and a sort of "rah-rah Britannia" attitude that I wish the author had analyzed further. Oh no, the U.S. and Norway beat us to the poles, but we must do something foolhardy to prove that *Great* still applies to Great Britain! What headline-grabbing stunt can we pull to wrench attention back to us! We'll bring a few scientists along because it's good optics, but that's not the point of our little trek. Shackleton might be a good leader under stress, but he's also an insanely lucky dude. I'm not sure any other "good leader" in he world could strand his men in the Antarctic, make the same choices he did, and enjoy a similar outcome.

Apart from my personal desire for more objective analysis of the Endurance's entire *point*, I wish I'd gotten to know the crew better in this book, having spent what feels like two years alongside them as they haul boats, drink ice-melt, and bop seals over the head during the long Antarctic winters. (I endured a mere week of military winter survival training, and wanted to just freeze painlessly in my sleep by the end of it. Unending cold sucks, I know.) The book is full of the details of everyday life for the men, but apart from maybe Shackelton and Worsely, I couldn't really keep anyone straight. I wanted less seal blubber soup, and more human drama. I wanted to get more into the emotional depths of the men's plight, their doubts, their fears, but as it written it seems like most of the crew were happy to go along with what they were told.

That said, it's still an incredible journey, I just wish it had a bit more depth than a detailed travelogue.

And that antarctic amputation....*shudder*..... ...more

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Nov 23, 2013 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-reads, non-fiction, audio

This had me hooked from the start, a proper page turner and adventure story, and despite knowing how it 'ends' it had me at the edge of my seat. I love narrative non fiction and this is an example of it as its best. Simon Prebble nails the narration - audio version highly recommended. ...more

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