Book of The Month Recommendation - August 10
'Endurance' by Alfred Lansing
This month’s book was recommended by a delegate who attended one of Mancroft’s programmes, but unfortunately I have mislaid his name; I would be very grateful, if you are reading this to email me.
In August 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out with a crew of twenty seven men (it was intended to be twenty six, but there was a stowaway who was allowed to stay on board) with the intention of sailing on the eponymous Endurance to Antarctica and then becoming the first to cross the continent west to east. This is the story of how, in failing to achieve their goal, they went on to provide one of the most inspiring stories of the fortitude and bravery of mankind.
This is not a swashbuckling tale of derring-do, it is an account of grinding hard work, extraordinary bravery, guts, character and incredible optimism when all the evidence was indicating that this was an unrealistic mindset. Throughout, Shackleton made an incredible number of life and death decisions and demonstrated the kind of leadership necessary to enable every member of the expedition to return home safely.
Ernest Shackleton, the famous Antarctic explorer, is the central character in this true story of a failed attempt to cross the Antarctic from west to east. Not long into the expedition, the ship taking them to the starting point for the journey is destroyed by pack ice and the company is then faced with an overland journey.
From there on, the members of the expedition are in frequent danger of death from freezing, drowning, starvation and at one point, thirst. To survive, they eat copious amount of seal meat and are eventually driven to eat their teams of huskies.
The last part of the journey, Shackleton, together with five other members of the expedition, travelled six hundred and fifty miles in a 22ft open boat through the Drake Passage, acknowledged as one of the most dangerous stretches of water on the globe, it really has an awesome description of the perils they faced.
I hesitate to call the book inspirational, sometimes it is too harrowing to be described that way and yet it is truly inspiring. If you read this book, you will realise just how pathetic we are when we complain about the kind of things the men on this journey would view as less than a pin prick in the grand scheme of things.
When reading Endurance, I challenge you not to think frequently how you would be reacting in the situation in which these people find themselves and I believe you might just admit you would come up short. On the other hand, this is a bunch of ordinary people who plumb the depths of mental, emotional and physical potential that each of us has at our disposal but as Jim Rohn says, "we just need a good enough reason to release it".
This book has something in common with Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void in that several times whilst I was reading it, I expected the author to write that everyone had sadly died.
Buy the book and find out just what we could all be capable of and then thank your lucky stars you have such a cushy life.
Richard Jackson, co-founder of Mancroft