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