That's a very beautiful, though ultimately sad, story. It inspired me to read Endurance which is just an amazing tale. Part of me does wonder if we over valorize these tales of suffering though. Is it worth all the death, injuries, and years separated from families?

Endurance by Alfred Lansing - It's a well-written book about the incredible story of Earnest Shackleton's attempt to be the first team to cross Antarctica by land.

If the notion of a ship getting stuck in ice is interesting to you, read the book Endurance about Shackleton’s failed 1915 polar expedition.

This is off topic but it’s a very good book.

Ernest Shackleton is probably the greatest mortal leader since Moses. Read Alfred Lansing's Endurance and you'll probably agree, although his greatest skill is probably this: http://cbpowerandindustrial.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/the-unc...

I gave you an upvote for the description. Nice to know about that "human" side of him.

I just want to add that for a cross country drive, there is no better audio book than "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage". The audio version is absolutely gripping; the suspense is incredible, more so because of the strict linearity of the story as audio (no peeking ahead). I also liked "Into Thin Air" on audio.

"The Righteous Mind" - Jonathan Haidt. This book helped me understand conservative thinking, made me less heated in my opinions, and provided a convincing framework for me to understand moral arguments

"Emperor of All Maladies" - Siddhartha Mukherjee. An excellently written history of cancer.

"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" - Lansing Alfred. A true story of one of the last great explorations man has taken

Solitude: A Return to the Self, Anthony Storr

https://bookshop.org/books/solitude-a-return-to-the-self-rei...

Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff

https://bookshop.org/books/metaphors-we-live-by-revised/9780...

Confessions And Other Religious Writings, Tolstoy

https://bookshop.org/books/a-confession/9780486438511

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, Henry Beston

https://bookshop.org/books/the-outermost-house-a-year-of-lif...

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing

https://bookshop.org/books/endurance-shackleton-s-incredible...

The write to failure is usually reported in the drive specs.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-stor...
See Endurance Rating (Lifetime Writes)

Simon Prebble has narrated a lot of the books I have in my Audible library, notably The System of the World (all the Daniel Waterhouse bits) and Endurance.

I also liked William Dufris who narrated Cryptonomicon and parts of Anathem.

I find new narrators tend to be very grating the first time I start listening, then over time I get used to them.

This has been a light reading year, for various reasons of circumstance and laziness, but here are the standouts in my mind:

* Thomas Merton -- The Wisdom of the Desert

A collection of quotes by and about the Desert Fathers of the early Christian church. I especially liked the ones that showed extreme mercy and selflessness, such as the monks who turned in a band of robbers, felt bad about it, and broke them out of prison, or the monk who would not count payments he received, as that might cause someone who cheated him to add lying about it to their sins.

* Alfred Lansing -- Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

This is just an exciting adventure log, following Shackleton's expedition as they spent over a year stranded on an Antarctic ice floe.

"The adaptability of the human creature is such that they actually had to remind themselves on occasion of their desperate circumstances." -- Alfred Lansing

* Seneca -- Letters from a Stoic

"I am not, mind you, against your possessing [riches], but I want to ensure that you possess them without tremors; and this you will only achieve in one way, by convincing yourself that you can live a happy life even without them, and by always regarding them as being on the point of vanishing." Letter XVIII

Here is my list:

- Endurance: The story about an expedition to Antartica... gone wrong (http://amzn.to/2g26L5i)

- Crucial conversations: Learn how to argue with people without starting fights. Allowed me to look at the situation more objectively (http://amzn.to/2h8w4yN)

- Making of the atomic bomb (http://amzn.to/2gJF6VU)

- Relentless: the personal coach of Michael Jordan talks about how you can become a cleaner. Great if you want to understand how great athletes think (http://amzn.to/2gJCerW)

- Make: rockets. Some cool stuff to do with the kids (http://amzn.to/2gZyQaQ)

- How to make a spaceship: The history of the Ansari XPRIZE. Interesting read about how hard it was to build this spaceship. (http://amzn.to/2h8xMzY)

So cool!

Shackleton's Endurance story is amazing, and don't miss out on the Ross Sea Party's part. The goal of the overall expedition was to cross the continent; Shackleton's party would make a series of depots to Pole, while the Ross Sea party was laying them from the other side so Shackleton could traverse the continent. Shackleton famously lost Endurance though, so never came over land. Meanwhile, the Ross Sea party lost their ship too, and still managed to lay a series of depots.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Sea_party

All consumed as audiobooks.

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America - Colin Woodard;
I learned much about early US history.

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman - Jon Krakauer

Find Me - Laura van den Berg

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

The Dog Stars - Peter Heller

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing;
I was fortunate enough to read this right before Seveneves, so the references made immediate sense. Endurance looks to be popular on this list/this year. How many were inspired by Seveneves?

Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson

Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age - Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson;
I highly recommend this book. Like The Making of the Atomic Bomb, but for the transistor. Lots of background on John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain. I was unaware of the great legacy of John Bardeen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bardeen

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes;
If you have not read this book, read it, just for the summary of discoveries that lead to the atomic bomb.

Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank

The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage - Anthony Brandt

The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen - Stephen R. Bown

I am looking for other books similar to Crystal Fire and The Making of the Atomic Bomb, that cover the history of scientific and technological discoveries. Any recommendations?

1. Stretch the lower back every day. I "programmed" this dude's workout into a free Android tool called Flexible Interval Timer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCJrWNO7O8. All my coworkers love it too. He has great vids on warming up/cooling down for running and many other useful mobility things.

2. Bike to/from work and to places within ~1h bike ride of home. Huge positive impact on productivity and focus. Living in LA, there's always something going on. But if it's going on outside the ~1h bike bubble I might as well not go since there's probably something else I could do at home that's more productive towards goals.

3. Go to at least one artsy event a week. Usually Wednesdays. This week it was book club - we read Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Next week it's a ballet.

4. Use an Amazon Echo to play 5-15 minutes of a book on Overdrive before I go to sleep. Overdrive can be set to stop playing after a certain time interval so, when it stops, I fall asleep instantly. I also play 15 minutes of the book when I wake up. Libby (Overdrive's younger sister/brother from another mother) also works the same way. If I get tired earlier, I tell it to stop - this is great because I don't have to look at a screen to tell it to stop earlier.

5. No electronics except the echo and the kindle and the ipod that only plays overdrive over bluetooth in the bedroom.

6. I have 6 mentors I admire for 6 key characteristics. I have their photos on a printed PowerPoint slide along with the 6 characteristics. Whenever I need to make a hard decision, I look at the slide and I imagine what they would say. They almost always agree and I do the right thing :)

The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 (John Toland)

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing)

Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War (Richard Holmes)

NB A book that I read recently that I wasn't expecting to like very much but really enjoyed was "A Fortunate Life: The Autobiography of Paddy Ashdown" - to say that he's had an eventful life is a bit of an understatement (Royal Marines, SBS, MI6, politics) - he actually comes across as a politician with strongly held morals - shame I can't vote for him!