Books

 

I love reading as much or more than I like hiking. Reading while on a hiking trip is even better. This collection includes books about hiking, adventure, journeys, life-style, nature and the environment. 

I have only included books that I have personally read and enjoyed. Some of them were just entertaining or interesting. Others had a lasting impact. This page is a work in progress. New books will generally be added to the top of the list. 

 

 

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Recover Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self By Michael Easter

The author, backed up by science, argues that "our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, under-challenged lives" are a major cause of many "physical and mental health issues." Despite an occasionally annoying writing style, this book was fascinating and sometimes gripping. The best praise I can give it is that it inspired me to do more hard things outdoors and persuaded me of the benefits of it.
 

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe     By Laurence Bergreen

A fascinating and entertaining account of Magellan's  round-the-world expedition. This story of adventure, endurance, hubris and intrigue goes beyond the bare bones account of the story learned in school. They completed the three year  journey of unimaginable suffering and danger with only 1 of 5 original ships and 18 of 260 original crew.

 

 Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World by Jason Hickel

Our economic system is based on perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. Degrowth or a steady state economy is an idea that is becoming more and more accepted as a solution to the climate crisis. The author lays out an argument for how we must change how we see the world and our place within it by shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that’s rooted in reciprocity with our planet’s ecology.

 

The Overstory by Richard Powers

This novel is about trees but also about climate change and human destruction of the ecosystem. It's a work of subversive genius. It has a non-traditional narrative structure, starting with the stories of seemingly unrelated characters. By the second part, when the characters start to interact with each other, I was hooked. I was so into the story that it took a while to realize how radical some of the ideas in the book are today. It changed the way that I think about trees. Now I notice trees and don't just see them as "background" and I try to see them as living beings.

 The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

This memoir had been on my wish list for a while. When the first chapter opened with them camping on a beach after a day of hiking, I was hooked. Just days after the author learns her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left, they make the decision to walk the 630 miles of the South West Coast Path in England. They face many challenges, not the least of them the fact they have very little money. I admired their refusal to apologize for being poor and I was caught up enough in their story that I put her second book on my wish list because I want to see what comes next.  

 

The Wild Silence: A Memoir by Raynor Winn

There are many books about transformative journeys but this memoir shows what happens after the journey is over. It follows the author as she gets used to "normal" life again, deals with the death of her mother and her husband's continuing battle with his illness It tells the story of writing The Salt Path and the unexpected public reaction to it and follows them as they restore a farm house, re-wild it's surrounding land and go on a long trek in Iceland. At first I did not know where this book was going and it took me a bit to get into it. But it got better and better and in the end I enjoyed it even more than the first book. I'm already looking forward to her next one.

 

Life Everlasting by Bernd Heinrich

A letter from a friend talking about his wish for a natural burial was the spark for this book by naturalist Bernd Heinrich. Drawing on current science as well as anecdotes drawn from personal experience he discusses how nature deals with death and decay and how everything in nature is reused. In nature everything is recycled and death is the source of life.

 

Riverman An American Odyssey by Ben McGrath

The story of an eccentric and troubled man who solo paddled a canoe for thousands of miles over a period of twenty years living, I think, in the only way that he could and still be true to himself.

Taiwanese Feet: My Walk Around Taiwan by John Groot

As any one can probably tell from this collection of books, I have a weak spot for stories of improbable human powered journeys. The author, an expat living in Taiwan, walked around the entire coast line of Taiwan. If you live in Taiwan (or even if you don't) and like walking, hiking or just traveling around the country you should read this book. Like me you will probably recognize many of the situations the author describes.  You can contact the author via his Facebook page and he will send you an autographed copy. Taiwanese Feet Facebook page

To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins

I really enjoyed this book, an account of the authors bike trip from Oregon to Patagonia, despite its flaws. There is no doubt the author is callow and privileged but he is scrupulously honest and resists the impulse to make himself look good. Also he is a really good writer. I enjoyed his descriptions and sometimes found myself laughing or on the edge of my seat. In spite of it's flaws, I found myself really looking forward to sitting down to read the book and you have to give him credit for completing the journey.

On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor

An exploration of the origin and meaning of trails. This book won numerous awards and loads of praise. In each chapter the author explores a different topic and also hikes all over the world as well as spends time with the octogenarian thru-hiker Nimblewill Nomad.

 

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen 

I have read this book twice and its such a good book and the writing so beautiful that I feel I could read it once every year. In 1973, Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, joined his biologist friend's expedition deep into the Himalayas. The goal of the expedition was to study Himalayan blue sheep and also to spot the elusive snow leopard. Adding to the tension for both the author and the reader is that fact that Matthiessen's wife died of cancer just before the trip and he left his young son behind. 

The Wild Places by Robert MacFarlane

This is a nature writing classic. MacFarlane sets out to discover, if in an age of increasing development, if there are any truly wild places left in Britain and Ireland. Through out the book he explores, hikes, climbs and usually camps overnight in these places. 

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

In 1986 Christopher Knight went into the woods of Maine to live on his own and did not have a conversation with another human for 27 years until he was apprehended for stealing food. The book tells how he survived as well as about his struggles to reintegrate into society.

 

The River of Doubt: Into the Unknown Amazon by Candace Millard

In 1912 Theodore Roosevelt and his son led the first descent of an unexplored tributary of the Amazon.  They encountered every type of danger imaginable from treacherous whitewater, to starvation to hostile attacks and not all of them made it back.  

 

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner

Another story of impressive river exploration by one of the most respected writers of the American West.

 The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eustace Conway tells the author at one point, "I am not a normal person." When still in high school he lived alone in a teepee in the mountains making his own clothes from the skin of deer that he hunted. He hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Alps and rode a horse across America. He is driven to undertake arduous journeys and to learn traditional skills.  

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest by Carl Hoffman

Michael Rockefeller, son of the governor of New York, disappeared in 1961 while on a collecting expedition in New Guinea for the Museum of Primitive Art. It seems very likely that he was eaten by cannibals. This was a well written and well researched book. The author also travels in Rockefeller's footsteps. Its a really fascinating portrayal of the collision of two very different cultures.

Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Future of the Earth by Craig Childs 

The author undertakes adventures in extreme environments. I particularly remember the chapter where he and a friend attempt a hike through the monoculture of an Iowa corn field.

 

The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey

This was an amazing story about a journalist embedded with a group of scientists on an island off the coast of San Francisco with one of the highest concentrations of great white sharks in the world.

 

The Tiger: A True Story of of Vengeance and Survival by John Valliant

The riveting story of the hunt for a man eating tiger in far eastern Russia. The story centers around three main characters involved in the hunt and includes rich details about the region and the lifestyle of its inhabitants. Part investigative journalism and part adventure story.  

 The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Valliant

Explores the mystery behind a shocking act of vandalism: the felling of a giant golden spruce revered by the Haida people of British Columbia. The tree was cut down by an environmental activist whose kayak and gear later turned up on an uninhabited island. 

 

Twelve by Twelve: A One Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream by William Powers

This is another one that I read twice. The author lives on a friend's permaculture farm while she is traveling. His friend though a successful doctor elects to live with the ecological footprint "of the average Bangladeshi." He adapts to living in a 12 by 12 cabin in rural North Carolina without a car, hiking around the surrounding countryside and meeting the neighbors.

 

The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen

The biography of a man who takes simple living and a rejection of consumer culture to an extreme. Since 2000 Daniel Suelo has not used money and at the time of the writing he was living in Utah-- part time in town, part-time in a cave in a canyon a short hike outside of town.  Of course not all of us are going to live as he does but I think this book makes readers reflect on their own consumption and has a lot to say about deliberately choosing the way we want to live rather than just choosing the default option.

 

Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology by David Abram

Abram is an ecologist and philosopher. The essays in this book have the potential to change the way we see humans, animals and the way we move in and interact with the natural world. 

 

 

 

Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey

 Down the River by Edward Abbey

 The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

 

I can't imagine a list like this that does not include Edward Abbey. Desert Solitaire, about his time spent as a ranger at the Arches National Monument in Utah, is a masterpiece that can be read over and over. Down the River is a collection of essays that is less well known but just as good. The Monkey Wrench Gang is his scandalous comic novel about eco-saboteurs. I did not enjoy some of his other fiction but liked this one. 

Edward Abbey: A Life by James M. Cahalan

I enjoy reading biographies but to be honest there are always parts that I find dull. Not so with this book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Abbey's writing.

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

This is a classic of nature writing and one of Barry Lopez's best known books. It is an account of five years living in the arctic where Lopez was a wildlife biologist.

 

About This Life by Barry Lopez

A collection of essays from the respected nature writer. Includes personal essays, adventure, travel and reflections on wilderness and culture.

Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison 

The family of a Chippewa-Finnish man who is dying helps him end his life in the way that he chooses. Considered one of Jim Harrison's best books.

 ShantyBoat: A River Way of Life  by Harlan Hubbard

Harlan Hubbard was an artist, writer and musician who rejected consumer culture and prized simplicity and independence. In 1944 he and his wife built a shanty boat and lived in it for about 8 years drifting from Kentucky to New Orleans.

Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaskan Frontier  by Tom Kizzia 

The true story of crazy religious nut jobs and conflict in the Alaskan wilderness. A great book.

 

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver 

I read this one twice. A reclusive wild life biologist living in a cabin in the mountains, a hunter and members of an Appalachian farming family--people who don't have much in common-- grow closer together and learn to respect each other over the course of a summer. 

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver   

Another novel set in Appalachia. The events in the novel and the relationships revolve around a group of monarch butterflies who have chosen to spend the winter in Tennessee instead of their usual winter habitat in Mexico because of climate change.

 

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon  by David Grann  

The author tries to piece together what happened to a famous British explorer who went missing while searching for a rumored civilization in the Amazon jungle and recounts his own journey. 

 

 

Blue Highways: A Journey Into America by William Least Heat Moon  

This book is a classic. The author left his job, separated from his wife and went on the road living in a van traveling 13,000 miles by back roads.  It is pretty much my fantasy life except for separating from my wife.  

River Horse: Across America by Boat by William Least Heat-Moon

The same guy travels 5000 miles across the United States in a small boat named Nikawa or river horse. He sets off from New York Harbor and finishes in Oregon.  Another great book.

 

PrairyErth: A Deep Map by William Least Heat-Moon 

This book was the opposite of his other books. Instead of traveling the author digs deep into the history and culture of one county in Kansas. He called the project "a deep map." In all of his books it is the author's language, insights and humor that make the books compelling.