Endurance

Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

By: Alfred Lansing

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

This is a new reading of the thrilling account of one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.

In August of 1914, the British ship Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world.

Lansing describes how the men survived a 1,000-mile voyage in an open boat across the stormiest ocean on the globe and an overland trek through forbidding glaciers and mountains. The book recounts a harrowing adventure, but ultimately it is the nobility of these men and their indefatigable will that shines through.

©1959 Alfred Lansing (P)2007 Blackstone Audo, Inc.

Critic reviews

Nominee, 2008 Audie Award, Nonfiction, Unabridged

"[O]ne of the most extraordinary tales of heroism and determination in the history of exploration.... Prebble's narration will bring to life the despair, elation, and sheer will of these men to survive, and to triumph, together." (AudioFile)

Superb in so many ways

This is unquestionably the most amazing tale of men against the elements that I have ever read or heard, and it is told remarkably well by Lansing who draws artfully from the actual diary entries of the participants without ever reducing the narrative to a dry progression of quotes. His ability to bring the harrowing conditions and landscape, the fascinating array of characters, and the grueling sequence of challenges and hairsbreadth escapes into sharp and riveting focus is quite extraordinary. Simon Prebble is a perfect match for the fine writing. He audibly sorts out the personalities involved and presents the whole with an understated but charged clarity which keeps the narrative moving even through what could seem like a never ending and tedious progression of disasters in the voice of a lesser reader.

Of course the real stars here are Shackleton and the men under his command who prove themselves capable of feats of courage, endurance and simple, stubborn determination which almost surpass belief. Ordinary and flawed in so many ways, they come together to become much more than the sum of their individual qualities.

In the end, the most fascinating part of this story is the long and torturous series of life and death choices involved. Time after time Shackleton's decisions are crucial to the party's survival, whether the question is when to abandon the pack ice for the boats, when to kill the dogs, when to allow the party to split, or how to get to the bottom of a nearly vertical snowbound precipice in order to avoid freezing at high altitude (think Butch Cassidy and Sundance). Nature is an implacable adversary for these men, marshaling countless terrifying storms, thirst, cold, hunger, completely unpredictable ice and long weeks of winter darkness against them and time after time crushing hope just as it seems most justified. Perhaps the most extraordinary decision of all, under the circumstances, was the choice each of them made to simply keep on keeping on when it seemed to make no sense

Finally, while this tale is exhausting in some ways, it is also deeply inspiring and satisfying. And Lansing and Prebble have given us the wonderful opportunity to "experience" it all while sitting in comfort and safety. Almost doesn't seem fair, but I strongly urge you to take advantage of the offer.

We had reached the naked soul of man

Before satellites. Before GPS. Before computers. And most importantly, before radio. Well, Guglielmo Marconi won the Nobel Prize in 1909, but his discovery/invention were still novelties in 1914, the year Ernest Shackleton and 27 men and some 60-odd dogs sailed off on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The adventure lasted far longer than anyone planned.

Alfred Lansing's "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" (1959) is the meticulously researched and detailed story of that expedition. Lansing used diaries, ship's logs, and interviews to reconstruct the journey. Clichés like "ill-fated" and "cursed" were created for this particular trip. What amazed me was the skill and ingenuity of the sailors, especially Navigator/Captain Frank Worsley. In the later part of the journey, Worsley used a chronometer and sextant to plot locations, making his calculations when the sun broke through frequent storms.

I like books about adventures at sea, but reading the text, I get bogged down and twisted in the details and give up. I had that problem with Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm" (1997) - I got the trade paperback, read a few chapters, tried to calculate wind speed and wave heights myself instead of reading on, and gave up. "Endurance" would have been worse for me - I would have puzzled over longitudes and latitudes, trying to remember how minutes and seconds worked for global positioning, and lost a thrilling story.

I liked Simon Prebble as narrator of "Endurance." He did a good job with multiple characters.

The title of the review is a quote by Shackleton.

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No Fiction can match it.

Great Story, on a great man.
Any fiction story who would try to match it would be so unreliable.
Strongly recommended

Exciting tale of survival (and narcissism)

This is an amazing tale of survival. It is riveting and, at points, agonizing. What's amazing is that it's a work of non-fiction. Truth is more fascinating than fiction at times because as Mark Twain is quoted as saying, unlike fiction, truth doesn't have to stick with what's possible.

One interesting aspect of this story is how Shackleton, who the author calls a probable egomaniac and who we might say had a serous dose of narcissistic personality disorder, really cared about his men. Maybe he did so for selfish reasons, but I'd prefer to think he did so for the right reasons.

Also interesting was how many of these gents were early proponents of relentlessly positive thinking. I have my doubts about this approach, but there's no doubt that it helped these men do as well as they did.

Epic, Exhausting, and Euphoric!

Omg, what an epic journey! By the end, I felt as if I had gone through an ordeal myself. Indeed, you feel as if you are right there alongside Shackleton and his men. Every failure they face is a disappointment in your heart, every success; an exuberant rush. Then, when you are thankful that it is about over... Swoosh! the rollercoaster speeds Up, over another hill, and you're off again! Finally, FINALLY at the end, having become so deeply invested in their plight, you are mentally and emotionally spent.
Great story telling, noteworthy narrator. A+

Exhausting but wonderful

A brilliantly-written evocation of a hard-to-believe story. It's not exactly a fun listen - it's non-stop suffering from beginning to end - but it's absolutely riveting.

This is an audiobook to listen to in winter when you're struggling through the sleet to get to work; it'll improve your life by making you realise how much worse things could be.

Doesn't Have about a Million 5-Star Reviews for Nothing!

Judging by the cover, I have to admit, I wasn't exactly keen on reading this book – but, you know what they say. As great as the reviews are, I just didn't think I could get into a book about Antarctica. But it kept showing up on my feed, so when it went on sale, I picked it up and never put it down (so to speak). Drawing heavily on the very well-written diaries kept by expedition members (many of whom were highly educated), Alfred Lansing's telling of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s quest to be the first to cross Antarctica and the doomed HMS Endurance turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read. The way the author can draw scenes out, describing, twisting, and tightening tensions only to loose them a moment later to your despair or celebration only to, a few lines on, ratchet up the stress and anxiety even higher! Every major part of the voyage is so descriptive you feel as if you right there, soaked to the bone, freezing, and fighting for your life in gale-force winds and 100-foot seas.

I listened to the audiobook – it was excellent. Narrator Simon Preble, as usual, was outstanding and lent the perfect voice. The e-book has several pictures and paintings of the expedition, but no maps. Well, there are two maps toward the beginning of the e-book, but they are worthless and a sorry attempt by Basic Books (publisher of the e-book), Perseus Book Group (whom Basic Books is a part of), and Carroll & Graf (original publishers in 1986). So, maybe I shouldn’t say “no” maps, I should say, “no maps worth a ship.” And that’s too bad because, with so many references to distance and time, a couple of good maps would’ve helped. The audiobook has neither pictures nor maps so, a PDF attachment would be nice.

BOTTOM LINE

If you enjoy adventure, expedition, and survival subject matter – you’ll love this book! And the less you know about it, the better. Stop reading ratings and reviews, buy the book, start reading. You won’t be sorry.

One of the best book ever!

Where does Endurance rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Number 1. No matter if you like adventure, sailing, ice, or cold, this book will not disappoint.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything

Have you listened to any of Simon Prebble’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, best

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I never do that.

Any additional comments?

Give this book to anyone who likes to complain...

Wow!

I downloaded this book on a kind of lark (it sounded interesting and was on sale). I'd heard a few small bits here and there about Shackleton's voyage but was effectively ignorant. The story is simply stunning. The reader of the audiobook is pretty good. Technically, he's very good but at times I felt like I was listening to a breathless narrator on a PBS show. Still, the story itself easily stands on it's own and the reader doesn't usually distract from it. I'm a sucker for stories of superhuman perseverance and this delivers it in spades. At times, I was near tears and definitely want to learn more about this story. Recommended.

Superb!

This is a story that should make you feel much less bothered by daily aggrevations and "strife". It is read by a skilled master who brings to life flat journal entries. This book portrays human will in an amazing light.