Shackleton cover art

Shackleton

Explorer. Leader. Legend.

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Shackleton

By: Ranulph Fiennes
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The enthralling new biography of Ernest Shackleton by the world's greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

To write about Hell, it helps if you have been there.

In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice.

The disaster left Shackleton and his men alone at the frozen South Pole, fighting for their lives.

Their survival and escape is the most famous adventure in history.

Shackleton is an engaging new account of the adventurer, his life and his incredible leadership under the most extreme of circumstances. Written by polar adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who followed in Shackleton's footsteps, he brings his own unique insights to bear on these infamous expeditions. Shackleton is both re-appraisal and a valediction, separating the man from the myth he has become.

Praise for Sir Ranulph Fiennes:

'The World's Greatest Living Explorer' - Guinness Book of Records

'Full of awe-inspiring details of hardship, resolve and weather that defies belief, told by someone of unique authority. No one is more tailor-made to tell [this] story than Sir Ranulph Fiennes' - Newsday

'Fiennes' own experiences certainly allow him to write vividly and with empathy of the hell that the men went through' - The Sunday Times

© Ranulph Fiennes 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Earth Sciences Historical Polar Regions Professionals & Academics Science Science & Technology Adventure Leadership Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

An insider's look into a very select club ... Fiennes' personal asides help to explain the unfathomable - such as how and why humans could and, more inexplicably, would persist with moving their tortured bodies across tortured landscapes in such extreme cold ... For anyone with a passion for polar exploration, this is a must read.
THE definitive book on my hero Shackleton and no one could have done it better. "The Boss" would have heartily approved of such an authentic account by one of the few men who truly knows what it's like to challenge Antarctica (Lorraine Kelly)
Fiennes makes a fine guide on voyage into Shackleton's world . . . What makes this book so engaging is the author's own storytelling skills (Lorna Siggins)
With first-hand experience of polar expeditions, Fiennes relates these tales of exploration and survival, adding insight to Shackleton's journeys unlike any other biographer
An insider's look into a very select club . . . Fiennes' personal asides help to explain the unfathomable - such as how and why humans could and, more inexplicably, would persist with moving their tortured bodies across tortured landscapes in such extreme cold . . . For anyone with a passion for polar exploration, this is a must read
Fiennes brings the promised perspective of one who has been there, illuminating Shackleton's actions by comparing them with his own. Beginners to the Heroic Age will enjoy this volume, as will serious polar adventurers seeking advice. For all readers, it's a tremendous story (Sara Wheeler)
Praise for Ranulph Fiennes' Captain Scott
Fiennes' own experiences certainly allow him to write vividly and with empathy of the hell that the men went through.
A valuable corrective to the trend of Scott debunking...One by one, and with the commendable attention to detail, Fiennes explodes the accumulated myths.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes has done Captain Scott's memory some service...he has certainly written a more dispassionate and balanced account than Huntford ever set out to do. (Simon Courtauld)
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed Sir Ranulph Fiennes’s ‘Scott’, so when I saw ‘Shackleton’ had been published I knew it would be good. It wasn’t good - it was excellent. Fiennes’s is in the pretty much unique position of being able to empathise and related to the highs and lows of Antarctic travel because he has done it himself. He has literally walked the proverbial mile in Shackleton’s (and Scott’s) shoes. His perspective therefore lends
a new way to interpret Shackleton’s questionable decision making, and he is able to review Shackleton’s adventures in an objective way. The narrator, by the way, is brilliant - the way he lends gravitas to the serious accounts but then injects a real sense of peril through his tone of voice into the dangerous parts made this book all the more enjoyable. I recommend it.

Well researched and brilliantly narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Captivating from start to finish. You really get a great sense of the man. Well narrated, would highly recommend!!!

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

RF’s own experiences of polar exploration give this biography additional insight that adds a depth to the story.

Epic tale of human limits

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Admiring but warts and all picture of Shackelton. Good to hear what happened before and after Endurance.

Excellent biography

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A fascinating account of the life and loves of Sir Ernest Shackleton …. Written by a modern day legend in Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

I laughed, cried and stopped in amazement listening to this book.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews