The Travelers' Tales Adventure List

The Travelers' Tales Guide to the Best Adventure Travel Books

Letter from the Editors:

When we started working together as disc jockeys at Dartmouth College, little did we know we'd still be playing our favorite tunes 25 years later. Only now, they are literary tales of travel. In our own world travels, what stays with us the most are the stories others have told us. We've spent the past eight years collecting our favorite stories from all sorts of travelers: seekers of high adventure, spinners of hilarious tales, wise old men and women, even criminals and madmen.

Back home, we've found our own journeys immeasurably enriched by reading of the exploits of others. In this list of adventure books, we guarantee fun and enlightenment from stories that have changed our lives and travels. Why are we recommending books we don't publish ourselves? Because we love them, and we think you will too.

Sincerely,

James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger

At Travelers' Tales, we read hundreds of travel books and thousands of stories each year in the process of putting together our award-winning collections of the best travel writing. Our latest collections, such as Danger!, A Woman's Passion for Travel, and Testosterone Planet, tell remarkable stories of people pushing their limits. So when booksellers asked us to put together a list of the best books about adventure travel, we had plenty to recommend.

Here are our recommendations for the best books in the following categories:

High Adventure

From mountains and rivers to oceans, deserts, and jungles, these adventure travel books are guaranteed to get your blood flowing, your heart racing, and push you to discover your own personal thirst for adventure.

Women's Adventure

Women are inspired, energized, and empowered by travel, and they provide a unique perspective on adventure, whether climbing the highest Himalayan peak or rafting solo down the Colorado River.

Spiritual Adventure

You don't have to climb the highest peaks or kayak the wildest rivers to experience the spirit of adventure, for travel is an inner journey as much as it is an outer one. The following books will lead readers through the marvelous labyrinths of the heart and soul as their authors explore cultures around the world.