In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off aboard the Endurance bound for the South Atlantic. The goal of his expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland, but more than a year later, and still half a continent away from the intended base, the Endurance was trapped in ice and eventually was crushed. For five months Shackleton and his crew survived on drifting ice packs in one of the most savage regions of the world before they were finally able to set sail again in one of the ship's lifeboats. Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage is a white-knuckle account of this astounding odyssey.
This book was first published in the 1950's, and tells the story of Shackleton and his crew's journey. The book is amazingly straight-forward and plain. No hyperbole, no false drama. It is the telling of what happened to the crew when they got stuck trying to get to Antarctica and cross it. The trials they went through are simply astounding. Reading a page, I simply thought "Holy crap, I couldn't have done it." Then I'd read another page, and think the same thing.
This story is simply incredible. And while I assume most people know the ending from history, it's one of the best books I've ever read where I already knew the ending.