This is our roundup of the greatest books dedicated to adventure. May this inspire you to get out there and make many more adventure stories worth sharing.
1. Encounters with the Dragon
by John Hone
This book is a culmination of over twenty years of photography and is a collection of stories of people, places and events surrounding the Drakensberg.
John Hone was kind of South Africa's Ansel Adams. He was the main photographer and MD of Art Publishers for several decades, but his real passion was the Drakensberg, which he spent decades documenting. To truly appreciate the scale of his work it has to be considered that he did all of this on film decades ago.
The best part of this chronicle of the Drakensberg is not just the breathtaking photos, but the stories, which will leave you burning with inspiration to get out into nature.
2. Epic Bike Rides of the World by
Lonely Planet
Discover 200 of the best places to ride a bike in this beautifully illustrated book. From family-friendly, sightseeing urban rides to epic adventures off the beaten track. Destinations range from France and Italy, for the world's great bike races, to the wilds of Mongolia and Patagonia. These journeys will inspire - whether you are an experienced cyclist or just getting started.
The book is organised by continent. In the Americas we join a family bikepacking trip in Ecuador; we pedal the Natchez Trace Parkway and stop at legendary music spots; we ride the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon and California; go mountain biking in Moab and Canada, and explore the cities of Buenos Aires and New York by bicycle.
European rides include easy-going trips around Lake Constance, along the Danube and the Loire, and coast-to-coast routes; routes in Tuscany, Spain and Corsica; and professional journeys up Mt Ventoux and around the Tour of Flanders.
In Asia, we venture through Vietnam's valleys; complete the Mae Hong Son circuit in northern Thailand; cross the Indian Himalayas; and pedal through Bhutan. And in Australia and New Zealand we take in Tasmania and Queensland by mountain bike; cycle into Victoria's high country and around Adelaide on road bikes; and try some of New Zealand's celebrated cycle trails.
Each ride is illustrated with stunning photography and a map. A toolkit of practical details - where to start and finish, how to get there, where to stay and more - helps riders plan their own trips. There are also suggestions for three more similar rides around the world for each story. Each piece shows how cycling is a fantastic way to get to know a place, a people and their culture.
3. Running with Sherman
by Christopher McDougall
An Amazon Book of 2019. Readers—and runners—will recognize Christopher McDougall’s name as the author of the best-seller Born to Run, and his latest, Running with Sherman, is part animal love story, part adventure book, part feminist running manifesto, and part scientific exploration into healing. What it lacks in the cutting edge scientific research that helped make Born to Run a hit, it makes up for with heart and…fuzzy animals. Journalist McDougall lives on a farm in Amish Country (PA), and one day his neighbor alerts him to a donkey that has been neglected by its hoarder owner. McDougall adopts the donkey—Sherman—sight unseen and receives a traumatized, unhealthy animal who can barely walk due to his neglected hooves. While nursing Sherman back to health with the help of an equine expert, McDougall learns that donkeys thrive from having a job, and he remembers that ambitious athletes like himself race burros once a year in Colorado. Thus kicks off McDougall and Sherman’s training for the aforementioned annual burro race. Along the way they pick up a wacky cast of characters: two additional donkey running pals; a young man recovering from depression and a suicide attempt; McDougall’s incredibly patient, former hula-dancer wife turned trail runner and donkey whisperer; an Amish running club; two women who drive McDougall and donkeys across the country…you get the idea. McDougall is a fantastic storyteller and a witty writer: “The Amish have a better retention rate than Netflix: roughly 90 percent of young Amish adults choose to stick with the faith and join the church for life.” A fascinating and inspiring hybrid nonfiction salve to the problems of our day, Running with Sherman achieves the running equivalent of a hole-in-one. --Sarah Gelman, Amazon Book Review
4.Kissing Kilimanjaro: Leaving it all on top of Africa
by Daniel Dorr
Mount Kilimanjaro is sometimes called "Everyman's Everest" because it is possible for a novice climber to reach the summit. And every year, more than 30,000 adventure tourists try. But for each person who goes to the mountain, there are thousands more who chat about it at cocktail parties, making plans to go...someday. That's how Daniel Dorr got started: flirting with a beautiful brunette over hot cocoa and spouting impressive plans. Six months later, he was lying on the cold gravel trail at 18,000 feet, panting and hacking in the darkness.
Dorr is a typical marketing exec by day but, amped up by his re-acquaintance with a romantic interest, he gained the determination to pursue one of his lifelong dreams -- summiting Kilimanjaro. When Dorr left behind the familiarity of his weekend-warrior lifestyle in Southern California to reach the top of the 19,340-foot peak, he didn't realize he would cross a threshold to a new way of life. As he fondles expensive hi-tech gear, gets vaccinated for the jungle, travels local-style across East Africa, and vomits on top of the African continent, readers share in the rewards, both large and small, of reaching for personal fulfilment through adventure travel.
5. Africa Solo
by Mark Beaumont
In the spring of 2015, Mark Beaumont set out from the bustling heart of Cairo on his latest world record attempt - solo, the length of Africa, intending to ride to Cape Town in under 50 days. Seven years since he smashed the world record for cycling round the world, this would be his toughest trip yet. And he would set a new mark that would simply break the limits of endurance. Despite illness, mechanical faults, attempted robbery and stone-throwing children, as well as dehydration in the deserts and unprecedented levels of exhaustion, Mark completed the journey in just 41 days, 10 hours and 22 minutes, after cycling 6,762 miles, spending 439 hours in the saddle (sometimes up to 16 hours a day) and climbing 190,355 feet through 8 countries. It was an astonishing journey, and one that will fascinate and grip the reader. From the obvious dangers of Egypt, Sudan and Kenya, over the unpaved, muddy, mountainous roads of Ethiopia, through the beautiful grasslands of Tanzania and Zambia, to riding at night in Botswana in the company of elephants and giraffes, Mark brings Africa to life in all its complex glory, friendship and curiosity, while inspiring us all to question the bounds of what is possible.
6. Race to the Pole
by Ben Fogle
New Year's Day, 2009. Somewhere on the bottom of the world, six teams of adventurers and explorers have gathered to race one another, on foot, to the South Pole. It is the first time that anyone has undertaken such a race in almost a hundred years; the first time since the great Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, beat Captain Scott to the same goal in 1911.
The stakes are high, as double-Olympic Gold-winning medallist James Cracknell and TV presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle must contend with hidden crevasses, frostbite and the favourites to win: a team of teak-hard former soldiers from Norway, trained in Arctic warfare. Temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Celsius lie in store for the teams as they attempt to ski across 800 kilometres of unforgiving, icy wilderness, pulling behind them sledges laden with equipment, tents and food.
Race to the Pole is a rip-roaring 'boy's own' adventure packed with excitement, humour and even a few tears. But with just a few months to learn to cross-country ski before the start, and with national pride at stake, can Ben and James re-write history and beat the Norwegians?
7. Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
by Ranulph Fiennes
Ranulph Fiennes has travelled to the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth, almost died countless times, lost nearly half his fingers to frostbite, raised millions of pounds for charity and been awarded a polar medal and an OBE. He has been an elite soldier, an athlete, a mountaineer, an explorer, a bestselling author and nearly replaced Sean Connery as James Bond.
In his autobiography, he describes how he led expeditions all over the world and became the first person to travel to both poles on land. He tells of how he discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman and attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole - the expedition that cost him several fingers, and very nearly his life.
His most recent challenge was scaling the north face of the Eiger, one of the most awesome mountaineering challenges in the world. Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE, 3rd Baronet, looks back on a life lived at the very limits of human endeavour.
8. Born to Run
by Christopher McDougall
At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20-mile mark.
9. Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
With an introduction by novelist David Vann In April 1992, Chris McCandless set off alone into the Alaskan wild. He had given his savings to charity, abandoned his car and his possessions, and burnt the money in his wallet, determined to live a life of independence. Just four months later, Chris was found dead. An SOS note was taped to his makeshift home, an abandoned bus. In piecing together the final travels of this extraordinary young man's life, Jon Krakauer writes about the heart of the wilderness, its terrible beauty and its relentless harshness. Into the Wild is a modern classic of travel writing, and a riveting exploration of what drives some of us to risk more than we can afford to lose.
10. Early one Sunday morning I decided to step out and find South Africa
by Luke Alfred
South Africa’s many paths, tracks and roads are long and winding. They twist from the familiar to the uncharted. And so do their stories. Luke Alfred spent more than a year travelling South Africa's highways and byways on foot, exploring the contested history of the country’s cities and countryside. Written with deep insight, Alfred's eloquent and quirky personal observations are engaging and entertaining. It offers fascinating little-known stories about our past and our present.
11. Conquering the impossible
by Mike Horn
In August 2002, Mike Horn set out on a mission that bordered on the impossible: to travel 12,000 miles around the globe at the Arctic Circle - alone, against all prevailing winds and currents, and without motorized transportation.
Conquering the Impossible is the gripping account of Horn's gruelling 27-month expedition by sail and foot through extreme Arctic conditions that nearly cost him his life. Enduring temperatures as low as -95 degrees Fahrenheit, Horn battled hazards including trekking on unstable ice that plunged him into frigid waters, encounters with polar bears so close that he felt their breath on his face, and a fire that destroyed all of his equipment and nearly burned him alive.
12. Alone on the Wall
by Alex Hannold & David Roberts
On June 3rd, 2017, Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo Yosemite's El Capitan-to scale the wall without rope, a partner, or any protective gear-completing what was described as 'the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport' (National Geographic) and 'one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever' (New York Times). Already one of the most famous adventure athletes in the world, Honnold has now been hailed as 'the greatest climber of all time' (Vertical magazine). Alone on the Wall recounts the most astonishing achievements of Honnold's extraordinary life and career, brimming with lessons on living fearlessly, taking risks, and maintaining focus even in the face of extreme danger. Now Honnold tells, for the first time and in his own words, the story of his 3 hours and 56 minutes on the sheer face of El Cap, which Outside called 'the moon landing of free soloing...a generation-defining climb. Bad ass and beyond words...one of the pinnacle sporting moments of all time.'
13. The Eighth Summit
by Peter van Kets
The word “adventure” is deeply entrenched in the soul of man. Nations have been built, wars have been won, and discoveries have been made all in its name. The great challenge of the modern age is the Seven Summits, scaling the highest peak on all seven continents, but The Eighth Summit is about inspiring the human spirit. In his memoir, Peter van Kets takes readers on three of his greatest expeditions—incredible, unsupported adventures across the Atlantic in rowing boats and across the icy high plateau of Antarctica on foot and sled—with the goal of lifting their spirits and motivating them in whatever they do. As a passionate speaker and conservationist, Peter does all he can to inspire people and change their lives, and he has addressed thousands of people since being awarded the SA OutThere Adventurer of the Year in 2011. Typical topics of discussion are vision, planning, teamwork, strategy, conflict management, working in a dynamic environment, self-discipline, and perseverance. The Eighth Summit is his story.
14. 438 Days
by Jonathan Franklin
On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for 14 months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles. Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions - including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise. Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.
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15. My African Conquest
by Julia Albu
'Next year I'm going to be 80 years old. My car will be 20 years old. Together we'll be 100. We're going to drive to London.' 'And what route are you going to take?' 'I have no idea. I think I'll keep to the right.' When 80-year old Julia Albu calls into her favourite radio show with a zany, half-baked idea, she has no idea that it will lead her to the adventure of a lifetime. With her trusty 20-year-old old Toyota Conquest, Tracy, a giant map and unbounded enthusiasm, Julia sets off on the long drive through Africa and into the UK where she hopes to meet the Queen of England.
Beginning in South Africa, she travels through deserts, over mountains and across grassy plains. All along the way, she is accompanied by family and friends. She stays in hotels and hovels, breakfasts with a giraffe and hangs out with baboons, and meets a host of colourful characters who all can't help but be drawn to the charming, white-haired octogenarian in their midst.My African Conquest is a funny, feel-good story about adventuring through life - and never acting your age.
If all this talk about adventure got you excited about running, cycling or hiking then click here to gear up for it.
