No comments about Pioneer days in Arizona: From the Spanish Occupation to Statehood.

No comments about The deaths of the bravos.

5 comments about South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage.

1. Synopsis: British explorers head to Antarctica in 1914, get stuck in the ice of the Weddell Sea--"the worst sea in the world"--, watch their ship crushed and sunk, and then over months make their way miraculously to safety in three open boats through crushing ice, blizzards and orcas, across hundreds of miles of South Atlantic ocean, with all hands rescued. And the other party, on the other side of the South Pole, loses three men to disease and folly.
   
   "We had pierced the veneer of outside things..." So summarized Shackleton as he emerged from the months of cold, hunger and pure misery.
   
   If you're going to get into the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition, the wreck of the Endurance and the ordeal and eventual rescue of its crew, arguably the greatest true tale of hardship overcome ever recorded, this is where you should start. This is the real deal, directly from the man who did it, the hero himself. But, there are elements of the story that I expected but were not offered in depth. In the end it seems Shackleton is providing a shrewdly crafted homage to his resourcefulness and leadership, while cleverly not addressing the fundamental lapses in planning and judgment that led to the disaster.
   
   Reading the opening chapters, and already being familiar with the basics of the story, I kept asking: If Shackleton had devoted the depth of planning, resourcing, leadership and unflinching singleness of purpose to the entire expedition before it began that he displayed once his men and ship were in peril, maybe none of this would have happened. He offers as the book concludes only that the problems were not a lack of organization, but "overwhelming natural obstacles" and the Weddel Sea weather. He ascribes their tragedy to luck: "...there seemed no reason to anticipate then that the fates would prove unkind."
   
   Shackleton comes across as a relentless leader and manager only once things got truly serious; this, after all, saved his crew. But before the expedition started, to my reading Shackleton was too consumed with coordination, communication with sponsors and well-wishers, securing ships, crew, funding and resources to really contemplage where he was going and how the entire undertaking could go south on him, which it quickly did. It seemed the only time a Plan B was even considered was when the time to develop one was forced upon them.
   
   The overall undertaking, the first ever crossing of the Antarctic continent, "the last great adventure in the history of South Polar exploration," of course was about hardship, adventure and discovery in the name of King and Country, and personal glory. The narrative is very imperial. It's all "pup-pup" and "cheerio," with the men breaking into song in a freezing gale on the open ocean, jocular as they slowly freeze and starve. Complaining and whinging are absent from all, and I do not recall even reading either of these words in the book. Shackleton's account offers a vision of a crew highly cohesive and united, which in the end is what saves them. There is only one mention of Shackleton having to "use rather drastic methods" with despondent or unmotivated men, who go unnamed. There must have been massive morale issues, and I wanted to get into this aspect of the situation. Sadly, these are almost completely absent. This is not to say Shackleton is puffing himself up; he constantly takes the lead in all risks, as a leader should. I wonder if this was compensatory behavior for having gotten them into the predicament to begin with.
   
   The book climaxes at about the 2/3 point with the rescue of the Endurance crew. Then comes the tale of the Ross Sea party, and their three deaths from lack of preparation and simple folly. The implication is stronger leadership would have prevented the losses.
   
   A major flaw in this book is the absence of any maps that would situate the action. There are a few hand-drawn diagrams of bivouac sites and trekking routes, but nowhere in this book are any maps or charts showing the regions in play. With so much of this book taking place across large areas of both land and sea, in areas with which the reader likely is unfamiliar, the omission of maps is a staggering editorial oversight.
   
   Another major frustration are the photographs. There are quite a few of them, but they are completely out of chronological order and their placement in the book best described as happenstance. A far better choice would have been one or two central plate sections, in which the photos were offered in chronological order.
   
   The story is dense with facts about the sea and ice, many references to geographic position and weather, but still reads quickly (374 pages total). It drags in a few points, such as the time between the Endurance becoming stuck in the ice and when the adventure begins. There is a lot of day-to-day, which becomes a bit tedious.
   
   There a couple of appendices, Shackleton's way of saying the doomed expedition wasn't really a failure, that there were meteorological and scientific advances. The appendices are dull and dry, offering interesting tidbits, but are far too short to prove Shackleton's assertion. There is also a scant index, covering only the broadest subjects and most important individuals.
   
   There are five or six distasteful instances of direct and unflinching racism, from Shackleton and the crew. Of course, when this was written in the 1910s, such a notion was unfathomable to them. These are words reflective of imperial times, but deft editing could communicate the same information and avoid unpleasant terms.
   
   Bottom line: In the annals of survival leadership, this is probably the greatest story of them all; Shackleton brings every single man home. But, it remains unexplored how he came to be in this situation in the first place.



2. This review refers to "South - A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage" - Ernest Shackleton-(unabridged audio cassettes/Blackstone Audiobooks)
   
   If I was just rating this book for myself, I would give it 5 stars. But as a reviewer making recommendations, I have to say that this personal account of Shackelton's important and historic expedition - destined for Antarctica- may not be a great read for everyone.As a lover of the sea, sea adventures and voyages combined with historical journeys of exploration, I became addicted to this book. However about one third of the way through, I realized that had it not been for my knowledge of nautical terms I would not have known what he was talking about half the time. The reading would have lost me early on. It may seem also at times a bit monotonous to those seeking a great adventure story. Ernest Shackelton was a great explorer and mariner, the story is one fraught with peril and survival,but his personal account of the voyage is a bit matter of fact.
   
   On the eve of WWI, Shackleton and his crew took on this ill-fated journey with high hopes and high moral. Prepared for the worst was not enough though. They met with the most horrific of conditions, losing their ship,much of their essential supplies, their much needed team of dogs, and much more. They spent months on months literally living on the ice. Making it to Elephant Island, a handful of men including Shackleton formed a party to search for help and once again were to fight the elements for months on end. The account also includes the story of the Aurora and her crew that also fought the climate trying to bring supplies to the Shackleton crew.
   
   This unabridged edition has nine 1 1/2 hour tapes. The read, by Geoffrey Howard helped quite a bit in putting some emotion into this memoir and had me wanting to find out what happened next. So my recommendation on this book would definitely be for the audio edition. And at that I would say, it is for those who love anything to do with the sea voyage. For History lovers I would suggest checking out some of the other books written about "The Endurance" and these very brave men.This book is also avialable in paperback at:South a Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
   
   There are some great memoirs of explorations out there. One I would highly recommend, isThe Essential Lewis and Clark Selections also on audio(see my review for book and audio details).
   
   also recommended:The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
   
   On the Road (Essential Penguin)
   
   
   Thanks...Laurie



3. I was very disappointed when I received this book. I had ordered the hard cover edition at a premium price expecting to get a quality reproduction of Sir Ernest Shackleton's classic book. The original book published by Heineman had many plates of photos taken by the photographer who travelled on the voyage. This version published by North Books had no photos, was on cheap paper and had a fairly basic hard cover. I sent it back and managed to source a second hand copy of the version published by Heineman.



4. I've noticed numerous people complaining about how Shackelton seems to be neglecting character development in his narration. This isn't a work of fiction, the people involved are not characters Shackelton just pulled out of thin air and could mould to his choosing. They were real, flesh and blood human beings, and to say that one man no matter how well he knew them could actually put their thoughts and personality to paper would be not only incredibly foolish, but also woefully inaccurate, and seriously can you honestly picture Shackelton dragging various members of the crew out onto the floes and sitting them on a snow band before asking, "How does that make you feel?".
   
   Of course it's not going to be the most exciting piece of literature you've ever read. The book is written as a journal and journals tend to cover the day to day dealings of the person whom is writing in them. Longitudes, latitudes and the general functioning of the ship were Shackelton's daily concerns.
   
   It's amazing how many people overlook the enormity of the task these men undertook simply because the authors writing style tended to focus on the here and now and the little details of daily life rather than some hugely embellished fantasy designed simply to make a profit. Anyway.
   
   To those of you whom appreciate this for what it is, you have my applause.



5. This is a great adventure book. Exciting adventures and heroic deeds make for good reading.

No comments about The first families of Frederica: Their lives and locations.

No comments about Early Harford Countians, Vol. 1: A to K: Individuals Living in Harford County, Maryland, In Its Formative Years (Early Harford Countians).

1 comments about Columbus.

1. To my knowledge, this is the most rigorous biography of Columbus so far. It is basically an unknown story, since what they teach us in school is almost all of it lies and myths, for example that Queen Elizabeth sold her jewells to finance the first trip, or that everybody in Columbus' time believed the Earth was flat. By any standard, Columbus was a bit of a lunatic who probably also suffered from what todat we call bipolar disease (for example, he thought that God spoke to him directly). He seems to have been given to theatricality and emotional blackmail, but undoubtedly he was also very intelligent and a great navigator. He also had an urge for social climbing, and he longed for glory and fame more than for money. He was obsessed with finding a way to China, India and Japan by sailing West, which suited the Western European powers's commercial interests. As said before, in his time the great debate among learned people was not over the flatness or roundness of the Earth, but about its size. Columbus, by grossly underestimating it, became convinced that the voyage to Asia was within reach. Had there been no American continent, he would have been murdered or starved to death. But he was also a very courageous and brave man, and so he made possible what seemed impossible. He was a very bad politician, and his emotional diseases made him quarrel with soon former friends, which of course marred his leadership abilities. His life, very well written by Fernandez-Armesto, is a glorious, tragic and incredible epic which reads like the best adventure novels.

No comments about The Conqueror's Lady; Ines Suarez.

2 comments about Climbing for Causes: A Personal Story.

1. The title, Climbing for Causes, caught my attention, but I must say reading the tale of this firefighter humanitarian captured my heart. It replaced a belief in mankind, a belief that there is genuine good left in this world. There are people left that actually do amazing acts of kindness in an effort to bring attention to worthy causes, such as diabetes and cancer. The play by play of the mountain climbing of a man, with no prior experience but overloads of determination and passion, grasped my attention and interest - just as if I were climbing those mountains along side him. His icy details of the environment, the scarey and realistic aspects of harsh weather and nature is riveting. You find yourself cheering for him when he reaches a summit and also saddened when weather and illness take the accomplishment away. It is a true tale of mankind going up against the largest combatants in the world - fate, humanity itself and most of all Mother Nature. It is well worth your time to read and see how the tale plays out. You may find yourself a changed person for it - changed for the better.



2. After browsing through a travel brochure Nick B Comande, a firefighter, from Racine,WI, decides on the spur of the moment to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro,in Tanzania, Africa. Without any formal training or experience he climbs the highest peaks on four of the seven continents.
   This is a very personal journal of an extraordinary human being! For Nick B Comande does not climb for the thrill of victory. While that element is there, the reason for his climbs is fundraising - to benefit charities such as the American Diabetes Association, The American Cancer Society and The Muscular Dystrophy Association. For every meter Nick climbs, someone back home has signed a monetary pledge.
   It's an adventure "of far away places with strange sounding names" !
   As I read I found myself climbing beside him. Agonizing with him at his defeats and cheering him on with the thrill of victory! I could visualize the vast emptiness of Antarctica or the magnificent sunset near the top of Mt. Aconcagua on the border of Argentina and Chile.
   Climbing for causes is a page turner for any age. It would make a wonderful final reading for this hot summer
   
   July,28,2006

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No comments about Isla de Pascua/ Easter Island: El sueno imposible de Antoni Pujador, 1948-1993/ The Impossible Dream of Antoni Pujador, 1948-1993.