25 Excellent Travel Books About Seeing the World
Motivation Through Travel Books
There is very little that inspires a person like a good travel book. The ability to see the world through another’s eyes and imagination is an invaluable experience. It opens up lands and eras previously untapped.
The following list of travel books is designed to inspire, rather than generally inform. Most books listed are stories of adventure, introspection and the value of the journey. Elements of human spirit and exploration continuously twine together in the following pages. There is nothing that better fills long hours on the road or in the sky than an excellent book.
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Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts –
There is no better how-to guide for modern travel than this book. Rolf Potts covers numerous resources, philosophies and the step-by-step processes to allow a person to long-term travel. It is the most valuable of any travel books in terms of practical knowledge.
Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer –
A horrifying personal firsthand account regarding the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster. The journey sees the author, Krakauer, make it home off the mountain. But eight other climbers were killed and several others were stranded in a storm. This story is a brilliant travel book touching on the most extreme conditions of the human experience.
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson –
An extremely humorous travel guide through Australia following Bill Bryson after his adventures on the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods). The anecdotes of this book are infused with funny facts, humorous insights and brush ups with Australia’s notoriously lethal wildlife.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho –
This classic novel is one of the most iconic travel books of all time. A young man embarks on an epic quest to find treasure near the pyramids after having recurring dreams about it. The journey allows him to discover his mentor, find love and discover self-meaning in life.
Sihpromatum: I Grew My Boobs in China by Savannah Grace and Savannah Grace Watkins –
An impressively honest travel guide, this book follows one family’s incredible four-year, 80 country backpacking adventure. For those interested in the traveler experience with family members, this book must be read. It remains the most fascinating, sobering, emotional, introspective and clever on the market.
Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr –
Wrangling two newborn twins, Anthony Doerr and his wife move to Rome for a full year as he embarks on a writing project. The journey is profound and embraces the charms and challenges of living abroad.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts –
A daring adventure story, this travel book follows the exploits of a convicted Australian bank robber who escapes to Bombay, India. His time in Bombay accurately portrays the wild, tumultuous life in a marvelously foreign land. Elements of the underworld, mainstream culture, traveler culture and foreign alignment all render this book fantastic.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig –
A fictionalized autobiography, this book is a profoundly strange cult classic. It was published without the intention to make a profit. But it subsequently remained on the best-seller list for over a decade. The story covers a long-distance motorcycle journey through the United States with a father undergoing medically induced personality changes and his son. The insights of the book and methodology of the journey (which is extremely intentional) makes it a splendid and insightful travel book.
Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks –
Once upon a time, a very hungover Tony Hawks woke up, recalling a bet from the previous night. He was due to loop all over Ireland while toting a refrigerator, in under a month. The very strange, novelty-travel adventure was ahead of its time. Many social-media-era travelers traverse the world with gimmicks for sponsorship, making this story a strange lock on theme-travel culture.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad –
This short novella follows Joseph Conrad’s experience as a sailor working for a Belgian trading company. The narrator witnesses the portions of Africa absolutely gutted by colonialism. While the book has many strong critics for its sensitive subject matter, it remains a compelling read and one of the earlier, popular wake-up calls regarding the influences of European colonialism on the world.
The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah –
A startling travel book following the familial journey of Tahir Shah, who refuses to raise his infant children in England. The family arrives in a jinn-filled mansion located in a Casablanca shantytown. The book is beyond divine when discussing the highs and lows of moving to a new and unfamiliar country, all while including aspects of the fantastic jinn indigenous to Middle Eastern culture.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac –
The definitive travel book regarding road trip romantic culture, the postwar Beat generation and the American backdrop of poetry, jazz and drugs. On the Road rotates around amazing concepts of freedom and its retention of liberty during more sober moments on the world stage. The meditative journey is powerfully rooted in American classic values alongside cultural modernization and is a worthy piece of literature.
Book of the Marvels of the World (The Travels of Marco Polo) – By Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa –
In the thirteenth century, Italian Explorer Marco Polo trekked from Europe overland to Asia, a realm completely alien to the Western popular imagination. There, he made exclusive marks on history, gained himself fame as one of the greatest explorers of all time and served in the courts of the Kublai Khan emperorship. His stories are of outlandish flora, unfamiliar animals, linguistic befuddlements and rigorous journeys, all predating the legendary Age of Exploration.
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms by Gerard Russell –
Islam is a profoundly interesting monotheistic religion, which has long sheltered many unique and strange faiths. Gerard Russell, a famed former diplomat, went to the most obscure portions of the Middle East to find some of these faiths which have lived beside the larger Muslim umbrella. His book explains his time living amongst the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. For discovering the subcultures of the world and introducing the unique features of ancient, Middle Eastern religions, this book is without comparison.
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen –
Perhaps among the most famous travel books and memoirs of all time, novelist Peter Matthiessen journeys with naturalist George Schaller in the Dolpo region on the Tibetan Plateau in the Himalaya. There he seeks the ever-elusive snow leopard in some of the most pristine, serene and thought-provoking terrain on the planet. The Snow Leopard is a mainstay in the travel community.
Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon –
Journalist Ted Simon narrates his incredible journey atop a Triumph Tiger Motorcycle. His ride, which took four years, 126,000 kilometers and forty-five countries, was designed to display the capabilities of his mechanical steed. The book eventually inspired Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s own global journey atop motorcycles. The book remains a brilliant guide for long-distance motorcycle travel, with all the pitfalls and triumphs involved.
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński –
A truly stunning book following a wandering Gypsy or Jewish boy as he traverses the war-torn countryside of Eastern Europe during WWII. The book is steeped in magical realism, childhood trauma and survival in some of the most inhospitable conditions of Europe during its darkest hours. The book, while not heavily focused on travel, does reveal uncommon insights and the effects a journey of survival might have on a youth. Though fictional, the book is thought to have strong elements reflecting the author’s true experiences.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau –
One of the most beautifully-written pieces of American literature, Walden was written by Thoreau, a transcendentalist who’s natural-living philosophies has strongly influenced alternative lifestyles, especially those of travel, minimalism and simple living. Motifs of independence, self-reliance, spiritual discovery and satirical reflections on society are all readily available within these pages. It is a vital read for anyone committed to opening their mind and experiencing new worldviews.
The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain –
The quintessential American-frontier writer of his era, Mark Twain’s journeys strongly influenced his wit and genius writings. Though any of Mark Twain’s works could be viewed as an asset to travel inspiration and mentality, The Innocents Abroad is his most travel-centric. A humorous piece, the book follows a “Great Pleasure Excursion” of pilgrims from the Americas returning to the Holy Land via a chartered post-Civil War vessel. The book chronicles the journey while highlighting vital components of American adventure heritage.
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty –
A transformative and self-healing novel follows the fictional Smithson Ide, who hops aboard his old, finely-tuned Raleigh bicycle after nears of self-neglect, beer and alcohol and emotional numbness. His subsequent journey across the United States becomes an extraordinary quest and remains a wonderful chain of events which captures the bicycle traveler’s experience.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber –
A truly brilliant short story, It remains inspirational among travel books. Thurber’s wonderful book follows Walter Mitty, a middle-aged man who delves into spontaneous and vivid daydreams. His imagination, in tandem with his rather droll reality is a true homage to the human mind’s deepest desires.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London –
Hammered and infused by adventures, Jack London is one of America’s finest authors. His professional life was accented by the gold rush, sailing and war correspondence, all of which feature strongly in his magazine articles and novels. Though many of Jack London’s books do a wonderful job of displaying the indomitable spirit of adventure, The Call of the Wild remains one of his most popular books, following the journey of an uncommonly powerful sled dog named Buck during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush.
Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum –
Aboard the single-man sloop “The Spray,” Joshua Slocum circumvented the entire world, becoming the first man to accomplish the extraordinary feat. His sailing memoirs regarding his 1900 adventure are a hallmark of travel literature, and remains a prominent source of inspiration for young sailors ever since.
The Odyssey by Homer –
Not all inspirational travel books are recent. There is likely no classic more compelling to the hero’s journey than Homer’s Odyssey. Following the legendary Greek Hero of Wiles Odysseus, the survivors of the Trojan War attempt to return home against the forces of nature, gods, monsters and myths. If a traveler ever wished to confirm the immortality of humanity’s questing nature, this epic can do so without fail.
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss –
Though the series is not yet complete (as of 2022), the Kingkiller Chronicles is a tragic tale following the incredible Kvothe on his fantastic journey of tragedy, love and vengeance. Perhaps the most beautiful written series of stories on this list, the story is infused with romantic travel aspects. Kvothe is a member of the fictional Edema Ruh, a nomadic cultural group of familial travelers. In terms of high fantasy, there is no book more true to the spirit of travel than these books. The Kingkiller Chronicles currently has two main books, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. Doors of Stone is the final book in the series, and has not yet been published.
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