Fav Reads- limit to nature/Adventure

This thread begged to be opened from one that I saw Dave had closed down on the Q&A. So everbody, lets stay on topic

What are some of your most enjoyable reads on the subject of wilderness/adventure/travel/nature writing? Open to fiction and nonfiction.

Here are some of mine-

Touching the Void
The Savage Mountain

Leaves of Grass

Great Heart
Hands down my favorite book ever! Arguably one of the greatest adventure stories ever. It's really three stories though.

Canoes + Labrador Wilderness 1903 & 1905 + death from starvation + race women v men + more close calls = reading until 4 am when you have to get up at 6 for work.

I find myself reading Not Without Peril by Nicholas Howe every year (I don't read much as it is, so that's alot for me ).

And theres always Into Thin Air by John Krauker (sp?), but I think the secret is out on that one already.

Into the Wild, also by Jon Krauker is also excellent I thought.

Also there is The Other Side Of Everest by Andy? Dickinson. About the same storm in 1996 as Into Thin Air, but the climbers were going up via the more difficult North Col route.

Anyone read Eiger Dreams by Krauker???? Any good??

I also like Not Without Peril by Nicholas Howe.
I know it may not fit here, but I also read The 4000-Footers of the White Mountains by Steven D. Smith and Mike Dickerman quite a bit.

I highly recommend

"The Monkey Wrench Gang" and many other books/essays by Ed Abbey

"Passing Strange" by Joseph Citro

Books by Rick Bass, Thoreau, many other authors......

Limit to nature;recent reads
Singing lives of Birds.Donald Krodsma
Mind of the Raven. Bernd Heinrich
I use Manual of Ornithology : Avian Structure and Function by Noble Proctor alot. Also the Sibley's Guides.
The North Woods. Peter Marchand
and many different field guides
Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

I will read an occasional bit of Emerson, Thoreau and Edward Abee.

I have been on a Krakauer kick like the others. Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven.

The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation is on deck for the next read.

Anything by Jonathan Waterman . The "other" Waterman.

4000'er said:

I know it may not fit here, but I also read The 4000-Footers of the White Mountains by Steven D. Smith and Mike Dickerman quite a bit.

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I love this book and consult/read it when planning every NH 4K ft'er hike.

Among my favorites are:

"Mawson's Will" by Lennard Bickel -- an incredible South Pole survival story.

"Arctic Dreams" by Barry Lopez is a fascinating look at the animals and people of the arctic region. My husband, however, was glad when I finished this one because I kept telling him endless arctic facts at dinner. None of Lopez's other books captured me quite as much as this one.

"West with the Night" by Beryl Markham -- a woman who grew up having all sorts of adventures in Africa and later became a bush pilot in Africa in the 1930's. I've read this book a half dozen times and never get tired of it.

"The Long Walk" By Slavomir Rawicz -- story of an escape from a Russian gulag (questions have been raised whether this was a true story, but it's fascinating nonetheless.)

"Desert Soliatire" by Edward Abbey -- a must-read as far as I'm concerned.

I'll read just about anything John McPhee or John Muir have written as well as any polar adventures.

I read Eiger Dreams but didn't like it as much as Krakauer's other stuff.

- Ivy

'On the Ridge between life and Death'

autobiography by David Roberts.

Also 'Losing the Garden' by Laura Waterman- sort of off topic here, deals with her life with Guy Waterman.

My choices

Agree with TDawg and 4000er. I loved not w/o peril and all of S. Smith's books esp "4000ftrs of wh Mts " and "Wanderings in the Wh Mts". I also love an old book (s) by W. Collins O'Kane called "the Cabin" and "Beyond the cabin door". He also wrote an old guide book to the White Mtns which is also out of print and I'm trying to find. Also loved "forest and Crag", "Into the Wild" and recently read "alone in the Wilderness"(cannot remeber the author's name-he spend 20 yrs in the Alaskan wilderness alone in a cabin he built w hand tools-Great book-also A DVD). The AMC wh mtns guide is also good reading when uyou live in the Midwest and pine for those wonderful woods/peaks. I guess I like to read about hiking when I'm not

jjo said:

recently read "alone in the Wilderness"(cannot remeber the author's name-he spend 20 yrs in the Alaskan wilderness alone in a cabin he built w hand tools-Great book-also A DVD).

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That's Dick Proenneke... and I agree both the PBS special and the book are terrific. The book was written from Proenneke's journals by his friend Sam Keith. The book is called "One Man's Wilderness: an Alaskan Odyssey"... I think the DVD is called "Alone in the Wilderness" though.

- Ivy

Here's the website for Dick Proenneke http://www.dickproenneke.com/

I agree, poisin ivy. Outstanding book AND DVD!!

1491 by Charles Mann is another fascinating book I recently read.... it deals with all of the latest historical research into what the North and South American continents looked like so long ago.

Edward Abbey, John Muir, Gary Snyder, H.D. Thoreau, Robert Service, Basho, Han Shan (duh) Robinson Jeffers, Wendell Berry, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Tom Brown. D.T. Suzuki, Aldo Leopold.
Huge Peter Matthiessen fan too.

Strictly local; I like Lucy Crawfords history of the Whites, anything from Dickerman or Smith of course, Daniel Doan.....Nick Howe.
Dont Die On The Mountain is indispensible along with any of the Watermans work. Also Goodmorning Midnight by Chip Brown.(difficult to put down).

Have read all the obligatory Krakauer stuff. (Eiger Dreams is my favorite I guess).
I recently read a book about the search for and discovery of Mallory and Irvine on Everest. Amazing background stuff on Mallory. He was one driven english dude.

Anything I can get my hands on I suppose.

Also a big fan of Pete Hickeys bike/trip reports.

Tom Wessels "Reading the Forested Landscape"

David Carroll "Swampwalker's Journal"

Kevin Gardner "The Granite Kiss"

Robert Thorson "Exploring Stone Walls" & "Stone by Stone"

And Thoreau "From the Maine Woods" -Ktaadn & "Walking"

All good New Englnd authors

Here are two books I read recently that were outstanding;
Minus 148 Degrees by Art Davidson about the first winter ascent of Denali and Desire & Ice by David Brill about a "normal" guys preparation for and climb of Denali. (Can you see the theme here...any idea what I'm psychologically prepping for?)

Recently read "Between a rock and a hard place" by Aaron Ralston (the guy who had to cut his arm off while pinned under a boulder in CO) That was pretty good reading, nice and graphic...with pictures!!

A journey North was pretty good ...adrienne hall
I was addicted to reading books on the AT for a few years, so I thought they were all good....and have quite the library now.

One of my favorites is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, and I also like the forementioned The 4000~Footers of the White Mountains

Mawson's Will. I thought I was the only one who read that. I read that about 25 years ago (yeh, I'm old) and I was transfixed.

Winter World by Bernd Heinrich. Wonderful book on the intracacies of nature.

On The Beaten Path by Robert Rubin. Another interesting AT story.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. The Arabian desert in all its dryness (British and environmental) and outstanding cultural clarity.

Snow In The Kingdom by Ed Webster. The best Everst book I ever read.

In The Ghost Country by Peter Hillary & John Elder. An captivating story of a tortuous crossing of Antarctica with people you don't like.

The Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt by T.R. Exerpts from TR's numerous books about his ranch out west, hunting in Africa, warring with the Rough Riders in Cuba and river exploration in Brazil.

Anything by Joe Simpson.

The Seven Mountain Travel Books by William Tilman and the Six Mountain Travel Books by Eric Shipton. Mountaineering, travel and adventure on a shoestring with typical British understatement. Great reads.

JohnL