Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Cheryl Strayed

This insightful and beautifully written memoir is an account of a young woman’s journey into her own personal “heart of darkness”. After her mother’s death from cancer, Cheryl Strayed goes spectacularly off the rails. Looking for a way to put herself back together, she embarks on the challenge of hiking 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail – alone, and with inadequate preparation. Along the way, she battles both her internal demons and the external challenges of the trail.

strong language; sexuality; drugs/alcohol

Travels with Herodotus

Ryszard Kapuscinski

Authored by the celebrated Polish journalist, this travelogue is a book within a book. As Kapuscinski journeys around the world, from India to the Middle East and then Africa, he carries Herodotus’s Histories with him. Wandering imaginatively between the ancient world described by Herodotus – “it is world literature’s first great work of reportage” -- and a post-colonial world undergoing great political change, Kapuscinski explores the philosophical and cultural meaning of travel.

The Wild Places

Robert Macfarlane

For this most literary of travel adventures, British academic Robert Macfarlane sets himself a particular task: to discover if there are any truly “wild places” left in the United Kingdom. Macfarlane draws on history, geology, ecology and literature, not to mention a deeply informed knowledge of animal and plant life, to describe the wild places he visits. It all adds up to a poetic and deeply felt study of why human beings crave, and benefit from, exposure to untamed nature.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Before Che Guevara became world-famous as a communist revolutionary in Cuba, he was a young medical student from Argentina. In this classic “road trip” diary, Guevara and his friend Alberto travel all over South America on a broken-down motorcycle. The diaries are a humorous collection of anecdotes about drinking, football and sleeping rough, but they also reveal how Ernesto’s travels inspired his political beliefs.

On the Road

Jack Kerouac

This classic "road trip" novel follows Sal and Dean as they look for inspiration and meaning on the open road. One of the seminal texts of the counterculture movement of the 1950s and 60s.

strong language; sexuality; drugs/alcohol

Long Way Down

Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorma

On their second “long way” challenge, authors McGregor and Boorman travel by motorbike from John O’Groats, Scotland all the way down to Cape Town, South Africa. The two friends and their team cover 15,000 miles in 85 days, but the travelogue really comes to life when they reach Africa. As Boorman and McGregor make their way through a land exotic to most Westerners, their down-to-earth voices offer fascinating insight into the people and places of this huge continent.

strong language; violence

Into the Wild

Jon Kraukauer

This intense non-fictional story is the reconstruction of the last two years of Christopher Johnson McCandless’s life. After graduation from university, McCandless gives away his savings and most of his belongings and heads west for the unknown. After travelling rough and working his way across the United States, McCandless strikes out for Alaska. Krakauer, a journalist who has been drawn to his own dangerous adventures, speculates about the peculiarly American traditions of self-reliance and frontier adventure which inspired McCandless’s search for enlightenment.

In a Sunburned Country

Bill Bryson

In the first chapter of his travelogue of Australia, Bill Bryson throws off this startling statistic: “It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else.” Bryson, a beloved travel writer, is a master at injecting humour and drama into the factual. Even readers who were previously unaware of an interest in the natural world will be transported by the author’s enthusiasm for his huge and diverse subject. Indeed, Bryson easily persuades the reader that Australia is one of the most underrated, amazing places on earth.

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi

William Dalrymple

This intimate study of Delhi is a journey into the past – and a mustread for anyone intrigued by India’s capital city. Sifting his way topdown through historical epochs, Dalrymple navigates the complex architecture of Delhi. His central premise is that there are seven “dead” cities of Delhi, and they are all encompassed by the present incarnation. Deftly mixing historical material and interviews, Dalrymple highlights the spiritual dimension which makes Delhi unique amongst the great cities of the world.

Blood River

Tim Butcher

When political journalist Tim Butcher becomes obsessed with the idea of traversing the mighty Congo River, and following in the footsteps of a famous 19th explorer, he gets nothing but the strongest discouragement from all corners. The former Belgian colony has no functioning infrastructure and no rule of law, not to mention the challenge of the impenetrable rain forest at its heart. This account of Butcher’s impossible journey is gritty, informative and incredibly suspenseful.

violence