What struck me about Endurance was how well the crew's morale held up despite continuous physical setbacks. I expected there to be all kinds of mental battles; instead, it was mostly one physical battle after another. And you can trust this impression, because Lansing had unusual access to the crew's inner lives. He interviewed many members and had access to multiple diaries. At times, his descriptions are eerily detailed. How could he know how Shackleton moved his head at that specific moment, how he looked at the three crew members when he caught them? But these are what make the book so rich, and why I enjoyed it. Some books about great men never get to the depth of detail where they become truly helpful. You don't get to see their instincts, their behavior in the mundane moments, which are essential for understanding them. This book is not one of those. Though, to be fair, Shackleton is only a small part of the story, which is about the whole expedition.
I was impressed by how skilled the crew was. How well they made use of the few tools and material they had. When they were stranded on the ice, there was at times a lot of boredom. After hunting and making food, there was nothing to do. Their boredom was honest — not the restless kind we manufacture today. They played games, staged theater scenes, pulled pranks. Someone might spend a whole week just fixing one shoe - and enjoyed that slowness. Then came times where everyone had to work and everything had to work. Death is never that far away. Even at the very end of the book, when you already know, and can feel, that they are going to make it, Shackleton and his two companions are hours away from freezing. But they make it, and in the end, everybody makes it: Not one crew member died during the entire expedition.
By now, the title of the book needs no further explanation. But it has: Shackleton's family had a family motto. Fortitudine Vincimus — "By endurance we conquer."