South

Explorer Ernest Shackleton's first-person account is the stuff of legend. While sailing in Antarctica in their ship, ENDURANCE, he and his men became locked in sea ice. The gripping tale of their subsequent voyage across 600 miles of ice floes and 850 miles of violent seas has entranced readers since it was first published after WWI. Now audiobook listeners have an opportunity to join the Shackleton expedition as it battles temperatures of minus 50 degrees and winds of 80 mph. Geoffrey Howard's splendid rendition conveys the genuine drama of the story without succumbing to false dramatics. His Shackleton has a deep-voiced charm; he is witty, calm and, most important, masterly in a crisis. In short, Howard's Shackleton sounds exactly as we imagine an explorer should sound. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

One might expect this story told by a Victorian explorer about his own exploits in Antarctica to be a little tedious. To the contrary, it's filled with fascinating developments and details and doesn't shrink from the stark realities of the story, as evidenced by the description of shooting and eating the sled dogs to prevent their and the humans' starvation. Sir Ernest Shackleton writes mostly in the first person. The audio publisher uses a "different acoustic" (a hollow and reverberant sound) for quotes and letters from others, which is an interesting, but disconcerting, technique. However, Barnett's reading remains at all times sober, straightforward and undramatic, as befits the seriousness of the subject. J.D.N. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

This is not one of the books that made Shackleton famous to recent generations. This is Shackleton's original account, cobbled together from the journals of his failed but heroic expedition in Antarctica's Weddell Sea and the equally heroic and more disastrous expedition in the Ross Sea--two parts of one attempt to cross the Antarctic continent. The account embodies the sensibilities of its time, when explorers prized penguins and seals for food. Stephen Crossley offers a measured narration with a positive tone and an Oxbridge accent that make Shackleton come alive. However, the identities of various speakers are sometimes difficult to follow as the author draws material from different first-person accounts. The scientific appendices add to this greatest of Antarctic stories. F.C. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Save this audiobook for summer listening. Its great, and true, adventure story of Antarctic exploration will take you to frigid places on a hot day. When their ship was crushed by ice on the Southern Ocean, Shackleton led his entire party to safety across hundreds of miles of open sea more than a year later. Narrator Rupert Degas captures the spirit of the man: hearty, plainspoken, determined, and devoted to the welfare of his crew. His stoicism makes the rare moments of deep emotion--for example, when their ship, ENDURANCE, finally slips beneath the ice--even more affecting. While the scientific appendix may be less interesting to some listeners, Degas enhances it with a variety of voices. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine