I really enjoy books about treacherous and incredible expeditions or journeys that people take. I'm incredibly poorly travelled so love living vicariously through those braver than I.
I really don't read enough as I'd like, but the books that absolutely gripped me were:
- The Places In Between by Rory Stewart
- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
I recently read Enemy Of All Mankind by Steven Johnson which was really good, but I think I'm specifically looking for more contemporary diaries.
Thanks!
by Kawecco
6 Comments
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is a real life example of a treacherous journey.
The Worst Journey in the World. Written by a member of Scott’s South Pole expedition who made a side trip to gather emperor penguin eggs.
*Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North* by Blair Braverman
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. About the voyage of Ernest Shackleton and his 27 men in 1914 to Antartica and getting lost in the ice for fourteen months.
Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. About six men going on an expedition on a primitive raft from Peru to the Polynesian Islands to prove that it was possible.
Edit: Ah, these aren’t contemporary. My bad.