10.
Into Thin Air - By John Krakauer
Despite being a true story about
a misbegotten group of tourists attempting to climb the summit of Mt. Everest,
John Krakauer’s book often leaves even fine novels in the literary dust. The
story he tells rises, like the great peak itself, slowly, and then builds to a
remarkable climax. Each of the characters is brought alive by Krakauer’s
careful and detailed descriptions as they make their way upward; their
backstories carefully tossed like seeds throughout the book so that when the
climax (or multiple climaxes) arrive, the effect is horrifying, sad,
exhilarating and satisfying all at the same time. The research Krakauer did to write
the book places him in the pantheon of great narrative non-fiction writers like
Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote. If you haven’t bought it, do so now and enjoy
every minute. On Barnes & Noble.
9.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom - By T. E. Lawrence
In this book T.E. Lawrence, the
inspiration for the epic David Lean film Lawrence of Arabia, relates his own
rise among the Arab tribes to help overthrow Ottoman rule during World War I.
It’s an astounding story and whatever you may say of the outcome, it stands as
one of the most remarkable military and human tales of the 20th century.
Lawrence describes his role in what he called “a procession of Arab freedom from Mecca to Damascus;” a
series of battles that changed the face of the Middle East and helped meld
tribes into the nation states we know as the Middle East. The experience tried
his own mental and emotional mettle as he endured torture, thirst, horror and
personal loss as well as military success. His writing, which can occasionally
be overly dramatic, is also moving and eloquent. “For years we lived anyhow
with one another in the naked desert,” he writes, “under the indifferent
heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating
wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the
innumerable silences of the stars.” The story does not digress; it is detailed,
realistic and unflinching, and it pins you to each page like a spell because
the cultures, climate, locations, politics, dangers and remarkable characters
are unlike anything the world ever seen. On Amazon.
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8.
South - By Sir Ernest Shackleton
In 1914, veteran adventurer
Ernest Henry Shackleton set sail to anchor his ship Endurance on the ice of
Antarctica and then walk the length of the new and unknown continent, a feat
that had never been accomplished or even attempted before. He dreamed that fame
and fortune would follow. He was right, it did, but not for the reasons he
thought. He failed at his goal, but then went on to lead one of the most
remarkable rescues in the history of human adventure. Shackleton’s team was
undone before they began when ice floes destroyed the Endurance and forced them
to abandon it. Though they unloaded provisions from the ship, they were without
shelter, limited food and nowhere near any sort of help. For nearly 17 months they trudged across ice
floes, hauling three lifeboats with them until in April 1916, Shackleton
decided to plunge the lifeboats into the sea and sail for some spit of land.
Five days later they found Elephant Island, a place never inhabited by humans.
It was the first time the 28 men had stood on solid ground in 497 days. But
Elephant Island was hardly a safe haven. On April 24th, Shackleton set out with
five other crew members into the open sea with one of his 20 foot boats. The
other two he left with the remaining crew. They promptly flipped them over into
makeshift cabins where the 22 men planned to live until rescued. For 800 miles Shackleton’s little lifeboat
fought heavy seas, frigid cold and Force-9 winds. Yet, somehow, after 18 days
at sea, Shackleton and their skiff made it to the island of South Georgia. But
they had arrived on the opposite side of help. So with two other crew members,
Shackleton spent the next two days crossing the island’s treacherous landscape
until at last he found a whaling station. From there, after several failed
attempts, he managed to get back to Elephant Island on a tugboat to rescue the
remaining 22 men. When he arrived August 30, 1916, in the dead of the astral
winter, every one of them was still alive.
This story doesn’t carry the elegance and force of a masterful writer
like Saint-Exupery or Ted Simon or John Steinbeck, but it doesn’t have to
because the story itself is so remarkable. Drama is on nearly every page, and
you can’t help but want to know, how will they make it! And the photos that
accompany the book are remarkably stark and beautiful. (You can buy an e-book version of this book with original maps, pictures and
drawings for $2.99 at our Vagabond Adventure store.
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7.
The Great Railway Bazaar - by Paul Theroux
The 1970s were a time when baby
boomers were growing into adulthood and some of them did not want to spend
their days in faceless factories or corporate offices. That included Paul
Theroux who decided to travel from London across Europe, through the
sub-continent, down Southeast Asia, then circle back to London by way of Japan
and and the length of Russia, all by train. He wrote The Great Railway Bazaar
in 1975 when travel books had a dirty
name, and along with Bruce Chatwin and Ted Simon brought back the thrill of new
cultures and dangerous deeds like Patrick Leigh Fermor and Richard Halliburton
did when they mastered the form in the 1930’s and 40s. Theroux is a writer with
guts and a remarkable eye for the significant detail. The pages of this book
bring the story alive with beauty and insight and absolute honesty. He never
shies from the truth as he sees it, which can be brutal, funny, surprising and
moving, the very elements you want to see in any story. On Amazon.
6.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors - By Piers Paul Read
British writer Piers Paul Read’s
Alive is one of the most riveting escape and rescue stories yet written. In
some ways it surpasses Ernest Shakleton’s South. In 1972 a jet with 45 members of an Uruguayan Rugby team and their
families and friends crashed in the Andes mountains. Sixteen people,
traumatized and injured, somehow survived, but their prospects for living very
much longer were long. They faced temperatures well below zero at 11,000 feet
with little food. The two and a half months the group lived together created a
crucible out which extraordinary decisions were made. They survived storms,
frigid cold, an avalanche, and the anguish of losing so many loved ones by
creating a miniature social system that was an object lesson in human in
courage, determination and the finest in human behavior. Daily duties were
divided, and food was rationed, including the grisly decision to eat the bodies
of the crash victims, often members of their own families. There were squabbles
and deep concerns over the eating of the victims of the crash, and not everyone
pulled their weight, but the system worked. In the end, the group agreed to
increase rations for two leaders, Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado, so they
could attempt to hike out of the mountains and save the group. For two weeks,
carrying make shift sleeping bags and gear created by the survivors, they
scaled a 15,000 foot mountain peak and hiked for ten days and 38 miles to the
valleys of Chile where exhausted they finally found help. Read tracked down the
survivors when the world heard their story and interviewed all 16 in immense
detail. He toyed with fictionalizing some parts of the book (he was a novelist,
former writer for the BBC and the Sunday Times), but decided that simply
telling the story as clearly as possible was enough. He was right. If you
aren’t utterly smitten but this book, I’ll buy you dinner. On Barnes & Noble.
5.
In Patagonia — By Bruce Chatwin
For shear beauty of phrase and
description, Bruce Chatwin’s book is difficult to top. But even better is his
remarkable story telling ability. Once you begin to read In Patagonia, the book
becomes your companion. And even when you put the book down, his words
reverberate. With the publication of
this book in 1977, Chatwin helped revive travel writing when publishers had
lost interest in the art. Chatwin himself said he didn’t see the book as a
travelogue. Instead he meant it as a series of stories he wanted to tell as he
worked his way by foot and bus and thumb across some of the wildest territory
on earth. And he succeeds somehow weaving in tales like tracking the house down
where Butch Cassidy lived, to mesmerizing fables about unicorns and Bigfoot
like creatures shared by the people he meets. As he travels, you have the sense of movement and travel, but you
would be hard pressed to know what route he took precisely though the vast
land. It doesn’t matter, though because in so many ways the book is a journey,
but one of the mind. You’re enthralled with geology and history and myth, and
above all the remarkable people he stumbles into. In this way, the book is
utterly unique and unfailingly engaging. On Barnes & Noble.
4.
Travels with Charley: In Search of America
- By John Steinbeck
Not long after Steinbeck wrote My
Travels With Charlie (1962), he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his remarkable
and considerable body of work (The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men to name just two of his
masterworks). My Travels reminds you why. The book was Steinbeck’s personal
effort to reconnect and understand America by circling the nation during the
1960s in a camper of his own design with his dog Charlie. On their journey he
reveals bits of nation, its people, its varied cultures and himself, one simple
story at a time to create a timeless mosaic. It’s not a travel adventure in the
mold of South or The Worst Journey In the World, but its is a quietly powerful
adventure nevertheless, steady, engaging, always insightful in the Steinbeck’s
beautiful and direct language, and his unerring ability to capture dialogue. Don’t think that the time difference makes
the story stale. As with all of Steinbeck’s work, the writing is direct, but
deep. Especially in this book you feel as though you are sitting down with a
close friend as he reflects with disarming humor and intelligence all that he
sees and experiences with the wry and authentic eye of a true genius. On Barnes & Noble.
3.
Wind, Sand and Stars - by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Wind, Sand and Stars - Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry’s most famous book is his children’s classic, The Little Prince,
but his most beautiful and exciting book is The Wind, Sand and the Stars, tales
of his days as an aviator for Aeropostale (later Air France) in the 1920s and
30s. It is simply one of the most beautiful books ever written, unless you
don’t care for enthralling human insight, epic vision or love of the written
word put to the pen of a master story-teller. Saint-Exupery was among a group
of early aviators who faced danger the way knights of old slayed dragons. A
flier first and a writer later, he skated through the skies on single-wing,
sing-propeller craft at a time when by-the-seat-of-your-pants was the primary
way to get to and from exotic locations like Casablanca, Tangier, Cairo, Dakar, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.
The book is rich with daredevil adventures, near death experiences, stark
beauty and the wonder of flight when flight was still a miracle. A key theme is
that while flying these early contraptions annihilated time and distance unlike
anything else before. It also opened the world to unknown cultures and people,
and forced an appreciation for nature’s stunning and awful power. Each chapter is broad and varied, but
Saint-Exupéry fuses them with common themes of courage, honor, empathy and high
purpose. They read almost like fables,
but stunningly rich fables, because in the end it is Saint-Exupery’s
extraordinary mind and heart and command of language that raise the book far
above mere autobiography or memoir. Yet, he is always humble and modest. His
love of the common man is in every word. To learn more, read my article “A Prisoner of the Sands” about Saint-Exupery’s near
death experience when his airplane crashed in the Sahara Desert. On Amazon.
2.
The Worst Journey In the World - By Apsley Cherry—Garrard
It’s an unlikely title that lead
National Geographic to choose Worst Journey as the greatest adventure book
ever written, but it is a classic, and absolutely true to its title. In 1911
Robert Falcon Scott, already a redoubtable British explorer, brought 11 men
with him to Antarctica to become the first humans to reach the South Pole. Scott would be racing another expedition,
Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s competing party who were just as determined to
succeed. Scott lost the race to Amundsen, but the story of his heroic effort
lives on in this book written by one of the survivors, 23-year-old Apsley
Cherry-Garrard. At least as astounding as the race to the pole, is
Cherry-Garrard’s telling of another hair-raising expedition that began before
the polar run with Scott. Cherry-Garrard and two others man-hauled two sledges
into the teeth of Austral winter to locate and return the unhatched eggs of
emperor penguins. Nearly every day for
weeks they fought temperatures 50 degrees below zero and winds of 100 mph. At
one point winds whipped their tent away. Somehow, through all of this they,
survived. Both of these stories, and Cherry-Garrard’s frank and powerful first
person descriptions of what he and the members underwent, make for riveting
reading that still stands up despite being exactly 100 years old. Included are
unique maps and the stunning drawings and sketches Edward Wilson created to reveal
a frozen world like nothing the human race had seen. Maps and photos of the
team, even as they neared death, are also included. That alone makes the book
worth reading. For me, this is truly one of the world’s most memorable
adventure stories. It brought both the fear and exaltation of hazard and
courage directly into my hands and I found it mesmerizing. I think you will
too. (For more information read my article describing the remarkable
journey in the dead of the Antarctic winter. An e-book version of this book with updated preface and
original maps, pictures and drawings is also available for $2.99 at our Vagabond
Adventure store.
1.
Jupiter’s Travels - By Ted Simon
The last I heard Ted Simon is
still alive at 90 and still riding his motorcycle. But in 1973 when he
convinced the Sunday Times to back his idea of traveling the world on a
motorcycle, he didn’t even have a motorcycle license. (After failing the test
once, he did manage to pass shortly before departing.) The experience took
Simon 64,000 miles, across 45 countries and through every adventure imaginable
from being thrown into a Brazilian prison for ten days, to wrecking his
motorcycle in Africa, to moments of ecstasy in Peru. He even fell in love in a
California commune. Simon’s special talent (he has so many) is not simply his ability
to describe what he sees, but to reflect on his experiences in profound, moving
and often hilarious ways. His ability to look inside his own mind and then
relate those thoughts and feelings to his readers is truly remarkable and often
as powerful as any insight you might hear from the novels of Tolstoy or James
Joyce. Sometimes his descriptions, internal or external, are so beautiful, that
I found myself putting the book down not to stop reading, but to savor the
phrases like an excellent wine. Never egotistical,
his unique and eloquent insights teach us about ourselves as much as about him
and the people he meets. That he managed all of this on a single motorcycle in
the span of four years is both remarkable and courageous, and you feel it on
every page. The book never flags. On Amazon
Honorary
Mention (Available by linking below.)
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary
Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
by Janet Wallach
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Additional books on my list of great
adventures, not yet read …
The Adventures of Marco Polo Vol.
1 & Vol.
2 by Marco Polo
(Available Free at The Gutenberg Project)
The Journals
of Lewis and Clark
by Meriweather Lewis (Available Free at The Gutenberg Project)
The Exploration
of the Colorado River and Its Canyons
by John Wesley Powell (Available Free at The Gutenberg Project)
The History of Africa by Leo
Africanus -
(Available online free, click link.)
Through the Dark Continent by Henry M. Stanley.
Resource: https://vagabond-adventure.com/library/the-10-greatest-adventure-and-travel-books-ever
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