Part of the tool belt of any traveler is a good book. Long bus, train, or plane rides can get pretty boring and can give you a lot of “dead” time you may need to fill if you haven’t mastered the art of the ten hour blank stare. While traveling, I always enjoy reading books about travel, exotic locations, and living your dreams. It makes me feel good about what I’m doing and keeps me dreaming of different places. Even if you aren’t traveling, a good travel book can help motivate you to get out there. Here are some of the best travel related books that keep us dreaming:
I’m with you on The Alchemist! I’m reading it yet again as a primer before take off
Great list, thanks for sharing, I’ll have to check some of the rest of them out. Another good travel book is Holy Cow, on Australian journalist Sarah Macdonald’s adventures in India – if someone out there is planning on going to India, I’d highly recommend picking up this book. It’s light in it’s tone, humorous, and entails everything you as a western citizen will meet in terms of challenges and general wonderment when embarking on the surreal journey that is India.
may be mere coincidence but I was planning on taking the Alchemist with on my trip!!
and yea, I’m not sure why you would haev to join to leave a comment, thats strange, and i didn’t notice it! But I did the best I could and I added a ’shoutbox’ or whatever its called so i guess you can leave comments on the right side of the blog…
… strange
but also nice compilation of books
Peter Hessler’s first book, River Town, chronicling his 2 years as an English teacher in a small Sichaun town, is an amazing read. The book is almost identical to my China experience.
I have Oracle Bones, but have yet to read it. I look forward to it, when I have the time.
Great list! Most inspirational travel book I ever read – On the Road by John Kerouac.
John Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charley: In Search of America” is a great read. I recently read Paul Theroux’s “Dark Star Africa,” which is at once amusing, educational, and a bit depressing. He’s starkly honest about the state of Africa 30 years after he spent time there teaching, and I definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Africa.
I got “Unlikely Destinations” as a Christmas gift, but I’ve been unable to get into it. I find the writing to be really poor. I refuse to read “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell,” but won’t bother going into details about why because that would be a ridiculously long diatribe. Instead I’ll just skip right along and say Bill Bryson work is good with me
@sabine: I’ve seen holy cow! but that’s a chick book and I tried to pick some that spoke to all the sexes.
@sax: good choice!
@steve: I still haven’t got river town but it is on my list!
@sean: it sure is!!!
@theresa: There’s so many travel books out there it was hard to narrow it down. I tried to pick classics and contemporary books like Do travel writers go to hell? ….it’s good to have a good mix.
Unlikely destinations is written in a weird way but it’s the story of the guidebook industry and thus a hugely relevant travel book.
btw- Thomas Khonstamm should be doing an interview here soon. be interesting to see what you have to say!
Hello!
I’m a big fan of Paulo Coelho! You will love this! He’s the first best-selling
author to be distributing for free his works on his blog:
http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com
Have a nice day!
Aart
Theresa– I agree with you; I read Travels with Charley a few months back, and it was just fantastic… beautiful snapshots of America. I’m now reading his Logs from the Sea of Cortez.
Excellent list, although I can only say I’ve read one – Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding. Definitely have the Alchemist and On the Road on my to-read list though – although that’s by no means a short list!
Eric
It’s not a travel book as such, but I’d heartily recommend The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz de Castillo – written by one of the original Spanish conquerors of Mexico. As a first person account, it gives fantastic historical insight, it’s an incredible adventure story and gives an amazing insight into the clash of cultures between the Spanish and the Aztecs. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone planning to visit Mexico, and Mexico City in particular.
I’d say check out “Long Way Round”, written by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. It’s about their motorcycle ride from London to NYC in 2004 over a 3.5 month period. Quite interesting.
Haha, yeah guess Holy Cow could be rated as a chick book. But still, it’s a good read.
Oh, and I completely forgot:
SIDDHARTA by Herman Hesse. If you haven’t already, then read it! It’s similar in tone to The Alchemist, but as the title would give away it’s centered around the Buddhist thoughts on Nirvana and Samsara. Siddharta, a young man, sets out on a journey of enlightenment, he encounters many different ways of living on his path to inner peace, none of them leaving him unchanged. This book will change your life. Just read it.
On a slightly different line, “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakouer highlights a disastrous year in terms of loss of life on Mt Everest and the effects of the travel industry selling places on tours to climb this extraordinary mountain. Unlike many mountain summit books which are wirtten by mountain climbers and read like they are too, this is written by a journalist who writes really well and unearths the pressure of getting clients to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. This same guy also wrote “Into the Wild” (nowhere near as well written but a true story) which was recently made into a movie about a guy who gives up all his worldly possessions and embarks on a solo journey to Alaska where he dies.
I have actually been looking for good travel books to pass my time unemployed! Thanks. Good thing you posted on my blog and reminded me I haven’t checked in here in a while.
Great list, but it isn’t complete without a title from Paul Theroux!
– I don’t know how you managed to keep it so short!
My personal favourite would be “The Alchemist”. I like how the book inspire you to strive to attain your goals and dreams. This book teaches you to listen to your heart and follow your feelings. Definately a good book to read while traveling.
Btw…thanks for compiling this list.
Can’t forget Eat, Pray, Love. A must for any of the female travelers out there! And the guys could like it too.
@everyone: Thanks for all the book suggestions! With the ones in my post plus all the ones you listed, everyone here is going to be reading for ages. I ‘ve added a few to my reading list!
Hi Matt,
I just discovered you site – and I love it. I’m actually reading The Alchemist right now, and love it. My favorite novel is One the Road. I have marked down several for my reading list, thanks for the suggestions!
i like the book seven years in Tibet, and had read it , i interesting for The Motorcycle Diaries, it is true che guevara
Great list Matt, enough to keep me going for a while – and give me itchy feet to go travelling!
To add to this Travel Book list, I created my own – which are all on the humourous side. These books have given me many belly laughs and gave me the inspiration to start my own website.
Remember, if it’s funny, it’s close to the truth!
Check them out here:
http://www.thetraveltart.com/funny-travel-books/
Cheers
Anthony, The Travel Tart