Review: Inspire: Life Lessons from the Wilderness

Inspire: Life Lessons from the Wilderness by Ben Fogle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love watching Ben Fogle shows in BBC Earth and I equally loved reading this book.

Ben Fogle spent his life wondering in the wilderness. To me he represents what I have always wanted to do with my life. From books, I read about Stanley Africa exploration.. I read about Shackleton, Amundson, and Scott exploration in the South Pole… I read about Fawcett amazon exploration, I read about Slocum boat journey and Dawson rowing the pacific, I read about Thesiger crossing the Rub Alkhali desert, I read about Fiennes climbing mountains…Yet, all my book readings were while sitting at home in my library without experiencing the physical hardship that these explorers had to go through. Ben Fogle did everything I read about in actual life and this is what makes his perspective about life differ from many people. I was amazed by his diverse experience. He conquered the oceans, jungles, rivers, islands, mountains, the poles, and deserts. I am not sure If there are more for him to experience in our planet .. He might as well start thinking about going to the stars…

I liked the part on his experience in the south pole race which in his case, history repeated itself. He didn’t win the race to the South Pole as he was beaten by the Norwegian- again- Just like Amundson winning the race against Scott more than 100 years ago. Luckily in this case, Ben did not lose his life like his country man Robert Scott ! I loved his remarks about his visit to Scott and Shackleton huts: Whereas Scott’s was dark with a heavy sadness, Shackleton’s was light and airy, there was no division between teammates and the hut held a positivity that had been lacking in Scott’s. Just for the record, I am a big fan of Shackleton’s style of leadership.

In my limited short experience with wilderness, I have spent 7 days in the middle of Rub AlKhali desert, I have spent few weeks in the cold wet country side in South and North England, I have spent three weeks wondering in the wilderness in UTAH, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado, I have hiked in the mountains in southeast Asia, and I did some rafting in an icy cold river. SO, I myself had my own little experience with wilderness. But apart from my England and USA experience, they were all experience with relative comfort without the nature of hardship that Ben Fogle experienced in his travels. So, I can never understand the feeling of crossing the Atlantic , climbing mount Everest or crossing the south pole. So… if you ask me what is the one place that you really want to visit, I would say the Pole-a pretty good place to aim for-! Wishful thinking…and hard to do…In the greater scheme of things, this book gave me a stronger push to spend more time in the wilderness which I certainly will do.

Anyway, I loved the book … here are few highlights from the book:

My life has been defined by the pain of failure.

A river cuts through rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence

If someone asks you to describe your life, chances are you will list your achievements and accomplishments and edit out the failings and shortcomings, but aren’t they part of who we are? After all, failure is a part of everyday life. Without failure you can’t really have success. It’s all relative.

Antarctica is the loneliest place I have ever been

Adapt or die. It is the reason why so many have perished in the pursuit of their wild dream.

You never really appreciate what you have until you take yourself out of your comfort zone and endure hardships.

Very easy and enjoyable book to read…


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