BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 189: Read “South!” by Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton’s 1919 book “South! - A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage” is considered one of the greatest adventure books of all time, and I’ve wanted to read it for years. You will find this book on many “best of” lists, and I added it to my “bucket list” several years ago. I started reading it on Dec. 3 and finally finished it on Saturday night.

As mentioned, you will find “South!” on many “best of” and recommended reading lists. In May 2004, National Geographic ranked it No. 15 on its list of “100 Best Adventure Books." Later, my favorite Web site, The Art of Manliness, ranked it No. 2 on a list they called “The Essential Adventure Library: 50 Non-fiction Adventure Books.”

During the summer of 2006, author Dean King compiled a book list for Bookmarks Magazine called “101 Crackerjack Sea Books,” and King ranked “South!” at No. 10 on that list. The John Beaufoy Publishing Co. also published a nice edition of “South!” as part of its Stanfords Travel Classics series. The lists mentioned here are just a few examples of the many lists that include "South!"

The edition that I read was the 1998 Carroll & Graf Publishers edition, and, if memory serves me correctly, I bought it for $1 at Maycomb Mall in Monroeville, Ala. several months ago. This paperback edition is 380 pages long and contains numerous photographs, illustrations and maps. It also contains a 16-page preface and two sections of scientific appendixes in the back of the book.

So what makes this book so great? Between its covers, Shackleton, a veteran explorer, gives us the story of the 1914-1917 Endurance Expedition. The goal of the expedition was to attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. A number of obstacles prevented Shackleton and his men from completing their mission, but they had many adventures (and misadventures) along the way.

Their ship, the Endurance, gets trapped in the ice, where it drifts for months before breaking up from the ice’s massive pressure. The crew then takes to small boats and then becomes stranded in subfreezing temperatures on a God-forsaken rock called Elephant Island. While they wait with dwindling rations, Shackleton and five others navigate a small lifeboat 800 miles to South George Island, where they reach a small outpost of civilization. Despite more obstacles, they mount an epic rescue effort to save the stranded men on Elephant Island.

Now that I’ve read the book, I’m left wanting to watch the 1920 documentary film about the expedition, which is also called “South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition.” (I’ve also seen it referred to by an alternate title, “Endurance.”) This movie is apparently so good that in September 2010, Outside Magazine ranked it No. 1 on its list of 10 best “old school” documentary films from the 20th Century.

In the end, how many of you have read “South!” by Ernest Shackleton? What did you think about it? What other adventure books would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.