I have one copy of this book that can be passed around, so let me know if you're interested in getting in the rotation. There is also one copy at the LaVista Library. The Papillion and Bellevue libraries don't have this exact book in their systems, but they both do have another book by Caroline Alexander called The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition that chronicles the same events and even has several photographs from their expedition. I also have a copy of this book by Caroline Alexander if you'd like to borrow it. Or you can also check out the links in the right sidebar to find a cheap used copy of either book. Either book (by Lansing OR Alexander) will be an interesting read to learn more about this fascinating true story of survival.
Even if you're not able to read the book, please come and enjoy the discussion. Here's a summary of Endurance, in case you're unable to read the book.
"The book recounts the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated attempt to cross the last uncharted continent on dogsleds, an odyssey that some have called the greatest Antarctic adventure of all time. In 1914, just as World War I began, Shackleton and his crew of 27 set out from England for Antarctica on a ship called the Endurance. They never even reached the continent. For more than a month, they fought through thousands of miles of pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Then the pack froze around their ship, locking them into a huge floe. For 10 months, the ship drifted northwest until the pressure of ice floes finally crushed it.
"In the following months, Shackleton and his crew subsisted on seal blubber, penguins, and dog meat, moving from ice floe to ever-shrinking ice floe. Ultimately they set out in open 22-foot boats across some of the most frigid, treacherous waters on earth. Crew members’ diaries provide a fascinating, detail-laden account of the expedition. To get his men through it, Shackleton was “intensely watchful for potential troublemakers who might nibble away at the unity of the group.” He complimented those who needed flattery and even went so far as to assign potential malcontents, as well as the most irritating and self-centered individuals, to his own tent so their negativity would not rub off on others.
"Through it all, Shackleton insisted that everyone be treated the same, and he endured the same privations as his men. He went out of his way to participate in menial chores, including spending hours teaching them to play bridge. Shackleton considered reticence and delay as threats to survival and continually pushed his crew to persevere. He braved the feared Drake Passage—the roughest patch of sea in the world—and in the end, every member of the crew survived."
