Throughout the years I have come across a number of interesting books while researching my vacation travels, many of which are true stories of the adventures of the early explorers in the New World, as well as historical accounts of the native peoples. Unfortunately I did not write down the majority of the books I have read over time, but the listing below is a representative sampling.
These books should be available on line via Amazon or your local bookstore, or they can usually be found at your local library in the travel section of the countries you are planning to visit. No listing of travel adventures could be complete without Paul Theroux, an inveterate traveler who has had some of the most diverse travel tales one could want to read. So grab a good book and take it with you for that long flight or day at the pool or beach. Happy reading.
Last updated June 28, 2023 New additions in RED
Tony Horwitz
Blue Latitudes
Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
Highly recommend are in Blue
Levison Wood
Walking The Americas
1,800 miles, eight countries, and one incredible journey
from Mexico to Columbia
John Man
Marco Polo
The Journey That Changed the World
Oscar Hijuelos
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Alfred Lansing
Endurance
Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Douglas Preston
Lost City of the Monkey God
Daniel James Brown
The Boys in the Boat
Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
David Levering Lewis
God’s Warriors
Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
DANA, Two Years Before the Mast and Other Voyages
A compilation of Richard Henry Dana’s best selling novel and journals of his travels around the world
Erik Larson
Dead Wake
The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Dennis Lehanne
Moonlight Mile
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
James Reston, Jr.
Warriors of God
Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade
Defenders of the Faith
Christianity and Islam Battle for the Soul of Europe 1520-1536
The Last Apocalypse
Europe In The Year 1000 A.D.
Paul Rosolie
Mother of GOD
An extraordinary journey into the uncharted tributaries of the western Amazon
Richard Grant
God’s Middle Finger
Into the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico
Felepe Fernandez-Armesto
1492
The Year the World Began
Vic Darkwood
How to Make Friends and Oppress People
Classic Travel Advice for the Gentleman Adventurer
Edward Berenson
Hero’s of Empire – Five Charismatic Men and the Conquest of Africa
The stories of 19th century British and French explorers who opened the “Dark Continent” to European colonization and exploitation.
James Zug
America Traveler
The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard, The Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World
Mark Adams
Turn Right At Machu Picchu – Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
Find out what happens when an unadventurous adventure writer tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu
Richard Grant
Crazy River – Exploration and Folly in East Africa.
A humorous, historical and at the same time somber look at the history of the search for the source of the Nile River, one man’s attempt to find the source of an unexplored river and the ecological destruction going on in Tanzania and other parts of East Africa.
Paul Theroux
The Happy Isles of Oceana
The Mosquito Coast
The Great Railway Bazar
Riding The Iron Rooster
Pillars of Hercules- A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean
Rolf Smith
Cold Beer and Crocodiles
Candice Millard
The River of Doubt, Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
Piers Paul Read
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
Pedro De Cieza De Leon
The Discovery and Conquest of Peru
Kim MacQuarrie
The Last Days of the Incas
Buddy Levy
River of Darkness- Francisco Orellana’s Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
James Michener
Hawaii
Tales of the South Pacific
Todd Balf
The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America’s Ill-fated Race To Connect the Seas
Washington Irving
Three Western Narratives: A Tour on the Prairie / Astoria / The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, especially read “Astoria”
Laurence Bergreen
Over the Edge of the World – Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Peter C. Mancell
Fatal Journey – The final expedition of Henry Hudson
Alexander Frater
Tales from the Torrid Zone – Travels in the Deep Tropics
Mark Taplin
Open Lands – Travels Through Russia’s Once Forbidden Places
A fascinating look at the ex- Soviet Union in the 1990’s after the “democracy” movement started and some of the major cities and regions that were off limits to the world during the Communist period.