Shackleton’s Lost Ship Found (Plus C&B Recommend Books)

BUCK: I get all excited about this. Clay, if you’re gonna recommend one weekend read nonfiction book to somebody, what is it? Like, weekend nonfiction and something that you just… You can’t even tailor it to the person. You’re just giving them one book that’s nonfiction to read that you think they’re gonna like.

CLAY: I read a… I mean, first of all, that’s a broad category —

BUCK: It’s a a tough question, I know.

CLAY: — ’cause I’m kind of a nerd. So I be like, “I’m reading a book about Pickett’s charge,” you know, and I’m like, “Ah, you know, third day Battle of Gettysburg,” I’m not sure every person out there is gonna love it. One of the best nonfiction books that I have read — and I came to this one late — The Lost City of Z. Have you read that book?

BUCK: No, I read the… I think it was the City… (sigh) Oh, gosh. I’m forgetting. Anyway, you liked that book? I haven’t read that one. The Lost City of the Monkey God was the book.

CLAY: Oh, I read that. That was great too. I’m kind of like, you know, explorer, but you’re hitting on this because of the Ernest Shackleton?

BUCK: Yes.

CLAY: I have not read this book at all we were talking about off the air.

BUCK: So they just found… It’s been over a hundred years since the ship sank, two miles beneath the surface of the water in Antarctica. The book Endurance is incredible. It’s about the Shackleton voyage. The Shackleton voyage at the time, 1914, right at the early stage of World War I. I think it might have been a few weeks before, a few weeks after, I forget.

But, anyway, 1914, the whole world was watching this thing, Clay, supposed to make their way across all of Antarctica, and they get stuck in an ice pack on this ship and you gotta assume these guys are in Antarctica. This is pre-cell phone, pre-battery, pre-phone, and these guys, man? I don’t want to give stuff away. It’s just a great read.

Whether you’re cuddling up next to the fireplace with a glass of scotch or you’re on a hammock on a warm day, reading about what these guys went through, you’d be like, “At least I don’t have to go through that.” So Endurance is the book, and they just found the ship. It’s actually well preserved. I’ve never recommended this book to anyone, Clay, who wasn’t like, “That’s a great read.”

CLAY: I need to read it. You were talking about it off air with me. I also love reading those books because, to your point, you’re hanging out by your fireplace or you’re in a hammock; it just brings home how small — and this is why I think studying history is so significant in many ways, because it brings home how frequently we get obsessed with relatively small challenges when we’ve overcome massive challenges as a country.

BUCK: Yeah. Imagine trying to chase an elephant seal with a harpoon across an ice floe. It’s month four, and you’ve dropped 30 pounds already. You know what I mean?

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: Like, that’s a tough day.

CLAY: Yeah. It’s a little bit tougher than some of the challenges that we are told every day are overwhelming in this country when you look back.

BUCK: My iPhone freezes, Clay, and I have a panic attack.

CLAY: Yeah. (laughs)

BUCK: It freezes for five seconds, and it’s five seconds of hell.