Shackleton's Epic: Re-Creating the World's Greatest Journey of Survival

Ninety-seven years after Sir Earnest Shackleton saved his crew of 22 by leading a five-man journey into the Arctic Ocean in a makeshift boat and climbing a glaciated mountain, Jarvis, an accomplished adventurer himself, led an expedition to re-create that momentous odyssey. To capture the true nature of the experience and understand the hardships Shackleton faced, Jarvis and his crew created a replica of Shackleton's boat and limited themselves to the same equipment and food their forbearers had at their disposal. After a summing up of Shackleton's achievements, the story gets a little bogged down in the logistics of modern exploration%E2%80%94hiring of a crew, equipment preparations, chasing sponsorships, finding TV partners, transportation. Still, Jarvis has a way with words and brings crew's journey as they come to fully realize what they've got themselves into. Featuring great photographs from both explorations, as well as cool maps and interesting vignettes on navigation, artic exploration, and climate change, this work, like the exploration it mirrors, never surpasses the original tales of Shackleton's journey, but it has enough excitement and lessons-to-be-learned to make for a fascinating read. 163 photos. (Jan.)