Greatest Lessons From Greatest Books Read: Shackleton’s Wisdom

For the month of October, I am going to share the biggest lessons from some of my favorite books. The hope is that you can apply these lessons to your life, and just maybe, feel compelled to start reading some of these great works!

This week we will discuss “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing, the book I read once a year to remind me of how capable human beings are, and with that, to provide the proper context to my own problems.

The book details the almost two-year struggle for survival endured by the twenty-eight man crew of the ship Endurance. The ship was beset and eventually crushed by ice floes in the Weddell Sea, leaving the men stranded on the pack ice. All in all, the crew drifted on the ice for just over a year. They were able to launch their boats and somehow managed to land them safely on Elephant Island. Shackleton then led a crew of five aboard the James Caird through the Drake Passage, and miraculously reached South Georgia Island 650 nautical miles away. He then took two of those men on the first successful overland crossing of the island. Three months later, he was finally able to rescue the remaining crew members they had left behind on Elephant Island.

Wishing you a beautiful week,
Chris Matakas