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RECOMMENDATIONS:
TRAVEL LITERATURE BY
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OUTDOOR LITERATURE
BY LIAM GUILAR
RIVER LITERATURE BY
LIAM GUILAR
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OTHER SUGGESTIONS:
HUMBLE SUGGESTIONS
(A Few of Our Editor's
Own Works)
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Recommended
Reads:
Liam
Guilar's Outdoor Adventure List
Nothing had is
ever half as good
As it was in your imagination
And vivid dreams are
black and white realities:
Rainbows drawn in shades
of gray
.
--From
the Poet's Confession and Other Poems by Liam Guilar
Liam Guilar is an unusually
talented Australian writer, poet, musician and whitewater kayaker.
He has organized a number of river expeditions to far flung places and
made the first kayaking forays into Soviet Central Asia. A lover
of the written word, he can be often observed by incredulous kayaking companions,
deeply absorbed in a Nineteenth Century novel, or a copy of Beowulf
or Paston Letters.
"In the Road to Oxiana,"
Liam writes, "Robert Byron semi seriously said he'd like to institute a
grant to fund an expedition that would retrace Marco Polo's route.
His stipulation was that the members of the party had to drink a bottle
of wine every day and read a set number of books every week. I would
have gladly done it!"
The following is Liam's best
(and worst) list of outdoor books. (To sample some of Liam's own
writing, see his on-line book: Dancing
With the Bear. His book of poems is available from Ginninderra
Press.)
Introduction to
the List
Speaking as an English
teacher type there's an obvious problem with "outdoor books." Some exist
as records of great events, and their only claim to the reader's interest
lies in that record. The accounts of the first climb of Everest or
some of the early journals of exploration aren't great reading and don't
make it to many people's list of favorite books. Other works stand
up to be counted as books and works of literature rather than records and
can be reread. And, some do both.
The list that follows
is a personal one, and was selected using the following criteria: what
outdoor books do I need in my library and what books would I take on a
journey.
--Liam Guilar
My Favorite All
Time Most Re-read Outdoor Book
The Star Ship and
the Canoe by Kenneth Brower.
A strange true tale of Freeman and George Dyson, father and son.
One designed star ships and the other lived in a tree house and built a
traditional baidarka (giant canoe) using modern materials. Amazon.com: More
Information
Best Book On An
Expedition Ever Written
The Worst Journey in
the World by Aspley Cherry Garrard.
The section "The Winter Journey" should be compulsory reading before
any expedition or extended journey. No matter how bad you think
your trip was, it never gets as bad as this. The image of Bowers lying
in the snow singing when the tent blows away on the winter journey is a
good one to hold onto. Amazon.com: More
Information
Best Biographies
The Devil Drives
by Fawn M. Brodies.
A biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton, linguist, traveler, translator
and all round bad boy. Amazon.com: More
Information
Shackleton
by Roland Huntford.
Apart from the fact this biography reminds you of the long bits between
journeys, Shackleton's determination to bring his team home intact in a
situation that would have crushed most people's resolve is a great story.
Another
Review | Amazon.com: More
Information
Never Turn Back by
Ron Watters.
The story of white water pioneer Walt Blackadar, set in the context
of the his town and times. This is a rare book, intelligently and honestly
written, an entertaining and thought-provoking biography of a hero. Another
Review
More Information & Best Source for Purchase: Great Rift Press. (Amazon does not stock the book.)
High Mountains and
Cold Seas (Honorable Mention).
A biography of Bill Tilman. It's difficult to tell which is more impressive.
The achievements or the incredible stoicism and understatement that went
with it.
Not Quite "Outdoor
Lit" but "Lit in the Outdoors"
Travels in West Africa
by Mary Kingsley..
Kingsley was the daughter, so she had to educate herself. After her
father died she traveled to west Africa to collect specimens and study.
Kipling, who met her later in life, said: "she must have been afraid of
something but no one ever found out what it was." Another
Review | Amazon.com: More
Information
Journal of the Discovery
of the Source of the Nile by John Hanning Speke.
Huge but fascinating insight into the mentality of a Victorian "Explorer."
What he left out is almost as interesting as what he put in. Amazon.com: More
Information
The River Road to
China by Milton Osbourne.
Story of the French attempts to follow the Mekong to China. One of
those books that makes you realize the joys of maps, medical kits, and
helicopter evacuation. Amazon.com: More
Information
The Snow Leopard by
Peter Matthiessen .
One of the great travel books: a fine record of a trek and a disquisition
on Zen.
News From Tartary
by Peter Fleming.
Brazilian adventure starts with an ad in the Times newspaper. Soon
Fleming was in Brazil looking for the lost colonel Faucet and racing the
rest of his team to reach civilisation first. In News from Tartary
he crosses China with Ella Maillart and reaches India. Both are examples
of British understatement at its best. Amazon.com:
More
Information
Travels with a Donkey
by
RL Stevenson.
Stevenson travels through the mountains with a donkey. Beautifully
observed. There's a description of sleeping out in a storm that's worth
the price of admission. Another book of his about a journey through the
canals of France isn't as good, though it does have the line: "after a
good pipe and a good book and a good woman there is nothing half so good
as a good river." Amazon.com: More
Information
Journey to the Centre
of the Earth by Jules Verne.
Captures, in an odd way, the pleasure of journeying in unknown places.
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame.
Many kayakers know ratty's bit about messing about in boats, but if
you can read "the piper at the gates of dawn" and remain unmoved, well...
Coming into the Country
by
John McPhee.
A description of Alaskan wilderness. Also, by the same author, Survival
of the Birch Bark Canoe worth reading not only for the wilderness and
canoe stuff but for the story about master canoe craftsman Henri Vaillancourt.
Desert Solitaire by
Edward Abbey .
Abbey was the great iconoclast and his attitude towards rules
regulations and bureaucrats make him the possible patron saint of all those
who go to the woods. The book is also a lovely description of the
desert. I've never managed to read Thoreau's Walden but I think
his On Civil Disobedience is compulsory reading for all those faced
with the rule makers of the wilderness.
Arctic Dreams
by Barry Lopez .
A great mix of history geography biology and speculation. Also his
collection "crossing open ground" contains some fine thought provoking
pieces.
Pilgrim at Tinker
Creek by Annie Dillard.
She writes perfectly, and what she observes is the world outside her
window.
She by Rider
Haggard .
Old fashioned adventure tale. Sexist, chauvensitic, imperialist, but
what the hell.
The Collected Poems
of Robert Service by Robert Service .
While derided as a poet by the critics, what campfire gathering is
not improved by the recital of the "Shooting of Dan McGrew" or the "Cremation
of
Sam Magee."
The Road to Oxiana
by Robert Byron.
Not really an outdoor book but ... Amazon.com:
More
Information
When Men and Mountains
Meet: Explorers of the Himalayas by John Keay.
A set of stories about some of the early "explorers" of the Himalayas.
And a fine bunch of Loonies and crackpots they were too. (He also wrote
Eccentric travelers...a title that speaks for itself.) Amazon.com: More
Information
The Perfect Storm
by
Sebastian Junger.
Well written piece of journalism that describes a perfect storm and
what it did to people out at sea when it hit. Criticized for not
being quite as accurate as it could be but compelling reading.
Climbing
- I'm not a climber but my
vote goes to:
The Games Climbers
Play .
There are at two articles here that can be used as model of writing
in a writing class: "Cumha Duhgal" and "The Ice climber"
Favourite Climbing Article:.
"Ravens with the Great Man"
by John Barry .
Barry's Eulogy for his friend Peter Boardman, but also a good description
of a day in the mountains with a group of mates.
How Not To Run
An Expedition Award
The Last Place on
Earth by Roland Huntford .
A great lesson in how not to stuff up, the book contrasts Amundsen's
practical approach to reaching the Pole with Scott's amateurish efforts.) Amazon.com: More
Information
End
of Listing
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