Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

by Alfred Lansing

He was, above all, an explorer in the classic mold—utterly self-reliant, romantic, and just a little swashbuckling.

For scientific leadership give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.

those that burdened themselves with equipment to meet every contingency had fared much worse than those that had sacrificed total preparedness for speed.

The way this was a full circle moment for my life in the aftermath of reading "The Terror". They brought so much useless shit with them, and clearly it made a difference in the end for them vs Shackleton's expedition

In some ways they had come to know themselves better. In this lonely world of ice and emptiness, they had achieved at least a limited kind of contentment. They had been tested and found not wanting.

“Waking on a fine morning I feel a great longing for the smell of dewy wet grass and flowers of a Spring morning in New Zealand or England. One has very few other longings for civilization

Survivalism really puts the aspects of society and standardized life into perspective; when you are constantly in survival mode, you yearn to be back in your "normal life". But what does it say when you're in this survival mindset and you don't even miss "people"? You miss the little things that warm your heart. I'm not making my point well, but this line really struck me