Review: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

This is one hell of a survival tale. One of those stories where every time you think it can’t get worse, it does. Shackleton and his crew get stranded atop floating pack ice in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Do yourself a favor: Google “Weddell Sea pack ice” and look at the images that come up. Imagine trying to survive on a sheet of ice, in freezing temperatures, smashing into other ice floes—for over a year. And that was only the beginning of this crazy ~2 year survival tale!

It’s a well-written nonfiction book with plenty of excitement. The only downside is just how implausible the whole account feels, including not only the crazy things they survived, but even more so the way Shackleton and his crew behave in the story. Their life must have been a mix of utter boredom and prolonged suffering, broken up with bouts of sheer terror, but none of the characters seem to behave that way (at least not until the very end of the story, where a few cracks and a little personality finally come through). With very few exceptions, we almost never see anyone complain, scream out from despair or frustration, curse their fate, fight, cry, or just flat panic and freak out. I understand that this was no ordinary crew, and Shackleton was no ordinary leader, but I don’t know a single human being who would’ve acted the way the characters in this story did given the same circumstances. Perhaps they were all truly supermen—to some extent, they had to be to survive such an adventure—but I can’t help but wonder if the way the story was researched (via diaries + personal interviews) resulted in a slightly unrealistic portrayal.

Nevertheless, it was a very fun read. Or rather, a very fun listen, as I listened to this as an audiobook. Side note: I listened to some of this book at the gym, and found it to be a particularly good motivator. E.g., Every time I’d start to get tired while running or rowing, I’d listen to some part where Shackleton’s crew is rowing through the goddamn Southern Ocean, dodging ice floes and weathering gale force winds and subzero temperatures, and I’d realize I needed to stomp being a wimp, and pick the pace back up again.

Rating: 4 stars