Endurance discussion

if you think you are going through hard times, read this book. your times are not that hard.

loved this book and the PBS version of this book.

Justin wrote: "if you think you are going through hard times, read this book. your times are not that hard."

You are so right. This story shows how people can survive if their intention is strong.
Feather

Been through cold weather myself but noting like what these guys went through.

I am fascinated by the fact that many of the survivors signed on for other exploration trips. I guess the comradeship outweighs the physical discomforts?

This was one of the most fascinating books I've read. Truly heroic.

I played a little football in college and you all think I am crazy. The Arctic Explorers were a different breed.

A great read. Engaging to the end.

This is from an era in which the traveling was greater than the destination.
Amazing photo's.

These were the type of guys who put the "G" in Great Britain.

I love stories of Arctic or Antarctic exploration and this one was one of the best. I couldn't stop turning the pages and broke down and cried at the end.

I loved the book, but hate cold weather. Read it in the summer time. This is the amazing story of an amazing man. We could learn a lot about leadership and duty from him.

I am amazed at the will of people to survive as in this book and Touching the Void.

I read this book last year in my book club and it continues to stay with me. I think about the survival instinct and will to live that these guys all had to have to endure what they went through at each point in their journey to rescue. I also find it incredible that they all seemed to get along until the end. I watched the PBS special and was amazed that there were guys out there who actually CHOSE to re-create this epic story. Ha!

Irene wrote: "loved this book and the PBS version of this book."
Where can I look for the pbs version of this?

It was a three part series called "Chasing Shackleton" and aired about two months ago..

This is one of my Top Ten books ever! I agree with Marlyn about Touching the Void too (another of my Top Ten)

Following the narrative via the text is the way to go with this story. It has a way of reaching deep into our human vulnerability which says, "We are all shipwrecked; we must derive a survival plan." Imagining the world as all ice, cracking around us, and the human need to survive by way of daily courage with underlying doubt, and the need for human cooperation and artistic strategy, somehow has a way of stirring up some better and perhaps best good or virtues that are lacking in blasé America.

Shackleton undoubtedly had the biggest cojones of any man who has ever lived. Ironically and anecdotally very few people seem to ever have heard of him so this should be standard reading for all children in my honest opinion.

About Endurance? It's about "Putting on the squeeze...Clive Cussler's Artic Drift is very similar, well no need finishing this one. On second thought maybe I will and look for a Cussler's Cameo. Ha!
All kidding aside these guys are the real deal. Too bad none of them are currently in Congress...we could use a "few good men" like these. Lesson one, leadership (read statesmanship),an unselfish dedication to serving for the greater good! This is what Shackleton epitomes for this reader. The "...freedom to choose, is not the absence of responsibility", leadership is accepting the responsibility to work for the greater good of all.
Saw UNBROKEN last night. Seems floating in a rubber raft for 47 days on the open ocean is the feat to beat. Between wrestling sharks, line fishing for food and gaging on a captured Sea Gull, I've had about as much ocean suffering as I can bear to watch. Glad Shackleton and the boys have finally launched the boats and are headed to landfall. Much better then being picked up by an enemy ship only to end up in a different albeit "landed" dirt floor cell. These men are made of different stuff or perhaps it remains to be seen if when we mere mortals are put to the test we can rise to the level of, "If you can take it, you can make it." And so the two stories converge. Lesson learned!
The misery never ends. Looking for the Northwest Passage is one thing (see Artic Drift), but seeking a means to traverse the Antarctic Shelf seems far more daunting then climbing the mountain because it was there or...perhaps not. What is the lesson? If these expeditions were not attempted then how would we know? Curiosity plus Endurance does not necessarily kill the cat; human desire to seek the unknown and teach humanity a greater understanding of our collective existence is the penultimate result and humanity is the winner. (less)

What is the lesson? If these expeditions were not attempted then how would we know? Curiosity plus Endurance does not necessarily kill the cat; human desire to seek the unknown and teach humanity a greater understanding of our collective existence is the penultimate result and humanity is the winner. (less)