The Rif Raff Book Club met Sunday, October 28th for the book selection Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing near "The Living Coast" exhibit at Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill.

Before the meeting, the Rif Raff Book Club toured The Living Coast exhibit at the zoo. The penguin exhibit was a stark reminder of what Shackleton's crew had to endure during their year and a half in the Antarctic. One could just imagine chasing down those poor penguins, hitting them over the head and sucking out their "blubbah."

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

This months read was quite good. An excellent adventure yarn, keeping the reader in suspense throughout. The shear stamina of these men to survive for over a year in the Antarctic world was truly amazing. Lansing did a great job of piecing together the diaries of several crewmen and making it seem as if it was coming from just one storyteller. I had the good fortune to both read and listen to this excellent adventure. I'd never did the audio book thing before, but was anxious to get started, so while I waited for my loan copy to arrive, I listened instead of read and it was great - like storytime around the campfire. The actors (Tim Piggott Smith) narrative was colorful and full of life. The pronunciation of words like "blubbah" and "glass-e-yer", were snarled with just the right emphasis and brought several points of amusement to me throughout. I would recommend everyone try an audio book at least once.

I thought the best thing about the book was Shackleton's leadership skills. Despite all the trauma they faced, the 'Boss' was able to hold things together. Shakleton had the uncanny ability to see how personalities would mesh with one another. His constant optimism in the face of adversity is a lesson everyone can learn from. The actual hardships the crew had to deal with were amazing. The sea lion story was particularly engaging. I would definitely recommend the book to anyone interested in group dynamics or for just a good adventure story.

The book really brought to life the recreation of the events of this unbelievable adventure. The author used the diaries of the men to recreate the adventure in a immediate way. You felt you were with the group all along the way. Pemmican is my new favorite word from the book, but the dictionary credits it origin to the American Indian. How it ended up in a book from Europe is curious. The question kept coming up...Why would someone want to do this. The book gave meaning to survival and hope and the enduring human spirit. Leadership was a huge element of the book and lessons were learned on team work and survival and never giving up.