Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage VS Project Hail Mary
Verdict BUY IT BUY IT
The Reality More than a century later, the Endurance22 Expedition -- an international team of roughly 60 maritime archaeologists, engineers, and scientists aboard the polar research vessel SA Agulhas II -- located the actual wreck on March 5, 2022, lying 3,008 meters deep in a remarkably well-preserved state. The wreck was found approximately four miles from the position Captain Worsley originally recorded, a very close match for a location logged using 1915-era navigation more than 100 years earlier, and consistent with the historical account Lansing's book was built on. Real reader reception backs up the reputation: 179 independent Open Library ratings average 4.50/5, with fewer than 3% rating it 2 stars or below. But the book's central scientific conceit — how the protagonist teaches an alien species human language from scratch — was the specific target of a dedicated Ars Technica critique, which examined that mechanic in depth and found it the book's least scientifically rigorous element, even as its orbital mechanics and chemistry hold up better. A film adaptation (Amazon MGM Studios) is real and in production, with Polygon covering a real marketing controversy around its trailer — genuine current relevance beyond the book itself.
SHORT ANSWER
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage: The Endurance22 Expedition found Shackleton's ship in March 2022 lying about four miles from the position Captain Worsley recorded in 1915 -- a real, physical, over-a-century-later confirmation of the historical account Lansing's book is built on.
Project Hail Mary: Real reader reception for Project Hail Mary is strong (4.50/5 across 179 independent Open Library ratings), and most of its science holds up — but Ars Technica published a specific critique questioning the scientific rigor of the book's central language-learning plot device, the one part of its 'hard sci-fi' framing that doesn't fully hold up.