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Best Book List:
National Geographic Adventure:
100 Best Adventure Books

National Geographic Adventure, in their July-August, 2001, issue unveiled an exceptionally well conceived list of "adventure" books.  The process they followed in compiling the list was conducted in three-parts.  First they solicited ideas from their editorial staff, readers and contributors.  Then the list was given to a panel of ten writers, reviewers and experts who ranked the books and made additional suggestions.  Lastly, the books were placed in a final ordered list representing a combination of the rankings of the panel participants, Adventure editors and Adventure's supervising editor.

Although there is some overlap into nature and travel writing genres, the list otherwise concentrates on adventure.  They left out man-versus-man adventure literature, such as books about war.  Many of the works on the list are about human-powered experiences, but they also included a number of remarkable motorized journeys.  You'll also notice that the NGA list wisely gives preference towards writings by the adventurers themselves rather than authors who later re-told the story.

Below you'll find the list in order of final ranking.  The brief review information is in my words, but National Geographic Adventure also prepared short reviews of each of the books which may be found in the July-August, 2001 issue.


1. The Worst Journey in the World.  By Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)

Cherry-Garrard's "worst" journey takes place during the Antarctic winter before Robert Falcon Scott's famous race against Roald Amundsen to the South Pole. A member of Scott's expedition, Cherry-Garrard and two others undertake an expedition to collect the eggs of the emperor penguin.  On the way there and back, they struggle with back-breaking loads, long-dark days and numbingly cold temperatures.  It's an incredible story, narrated with great finesse.  B&N.com: More Information

2. Journals.  By Meriwether Lews and  William Clark (1841)

The story of Lewis and Clark's remarkable journey across the American west told by the great explorers themselves.  B&N.com: More Information

3. Wind, Sand & Stars.  By Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1940)

With beautiful prose, Antoine de Saint-Exupery describes his adventureous flights over the Pyrenees, Andes and Sahara.  Probably the best book ever written about flying. B&N.com: More Information

4. Exploration of the Colorado River.  By John Wesley Powell (1875)

John Wesley Powell's journal of his trip into the "great unknown" of the Green and Colorado Rivers.  B&N.com: More Information

In 1950, Herzog leads a group of French climbers to make an attempt on one of the world's most dangerous mountains.  Two make it to the top, but on the descent everything goes wrong.  Among mountaineering literature, Anapurna has few equals.  B&N.com: More Information

In the late 1940's the Empty Quarter of the Saudi Arabian desert remained a mystery to much of the outside world.  Into that mystery, Thesiger went.  B&N.com: More Information

Edward Abbey is the undisputed the voice of the remote canyonland country of southern Utah and Northern Arizona.  No book describes this harsh landscape better and with more hard-nose poignancy than Desert Solitare.  B&N.com: More Information

There must be some kind of connection between flying and poetic writing.  Like Antoine de Saint-Exupery (see # 3 above), Markham is a pilot, and her writing is entrancing--as entrancing as the African landscape she soars above.  B&N.com: More Information

It was John Kraukauer's book in 1997 which suddenly made New York publishers sit up and take notice.  Indeed, a book on outdoor adventure could make money and lots of it.  Into Thin Air describes the diaster that unfolded on Mt. Everest in 1996 when several parties were caught in a vicious storm.  B&N.com: More Information

The oldest book on the list, Travels is about Marco Polo's journey to Asia.  Adventure singles this book out as a starting point of adventure literature--non-fiction that is--of the modern world.  B&N.com: More Information

Fridtjof Nansen is the great Norweign explorer who inspired a generation of explorers and set the stage for fellow countryman Roald Amundsen who went on to lead the first successful expedition to the South Pole (see #63, below).  Nansen made his mark in the northern climes.  He sailed his specially built wooden ship to the north, allowed it to freeze in Arctic waters, and then with dog sleds made an attempt on the North Pole.  He didn't make it, but what an adventure it was.   B&N.com: More Information

Matthiessen accompanies biologist George Schaller on a 250-mile trek through the Himalayan mountains.  Schaller's purpose is to study blue sheep. Along the way, Matthiessen hopes to catch a glimpse of the exceedingly rare snow leopard but the journey becomes much more.  Coming shortly after the death of his wife, it becomes a contemplative and enlightening look at life.  See More Extensive Review.   B&N.com: More Information

Roughing It is a loose rendering of the events in Twain's life beginning in July of 1861 when he departed for Carson City, Nevada with his brother Orion, who was recently appointed Secretary of the Territory of Nevada, and ending in early 1867 when he arrived in New York.  In a style which would later become the great writer's hallmark, Roughing It is a rollicking, no-holds barred travel account of what it was like in the early days of the west. See More Extensive Review.  B&N.com: More Information

Born of privilege and money, Dana leaves all it behind, taking up the life of sailor and writing an engrossing chronicle of the sea and his experiences.  B&N.com: More Information

Here it is in Shackleton's own words: the powerful and unforgettable story of his escape when his ship, the Endurance, is crushed in the pack ice of Anactartic.  Though a bit matter-of-fact compared to modern-day re-tellings, South, nonetheless draws you in and won't let go.  B&N.com: More Information

Jeff Tucker's review:  "A great story by a great travel writer about a preposterously planned trip into Afghanistan (before the modern era of chaos overtook the country) to do a first ascent on a previously unseen peak in the Hindu Kush Mountains. The two solitary adventurers, with as much climbing experience as they had knowledge of the terrain, set out into the wilds of the Afghani frontier, and a formidable array of trouble and adventures. Written with sublimely understated humor and dry wit, it is hilariously funny and fun."   B&N.com: More Information

It must be in the genes.  Norwegians often figure prominently in adventure literature and Thor Heyerdahl is no exception.  Heyerdahl theorized that inhabitants of South American settled the Polynesian Islands--and to prove his theory he built a raft out of balsa wood and launched from Peru.  Three months, and 4,300 miles later, he reached his goal.  Kon-Tiki is a great adventure and a fascinating read.   B&N.com: More Information

Mary Kingsley is a remarkable woman who set off from England unescorted to continue her father's studies of the customs of African natives.  Not having wealth or a trust to draw from, she had to earn her way by conducting her own trading business.  Although she writes in the typical British style of her times not letting on to inner doubts and anxiety, the danger she faces is palpable as she travels the rivers and dark forests of Africa.  B&N.com: More Information

An American icon, Lindergh was the first to fly non-stop from New York to Paris.  This is his story, from his humble beginnings on a Minnesota farm to his famous transatlantic flight: the joys, disappointments and close-calls.  All in all, a life well-lived. B&N.com: More Information

Harrer escapes from a prisoner-of-war camp in the Himalayan foothills, makes his way across Tibet to Lhasa, and eventually meets and befriends the young Dalai Lama. See More Extensive Review.  B&N.com: More Information

Reaching all seven continents, the British explorer, Captain James Cook  expanded western knowledge of the globe like no other.  Between 1769 and 1779, he made three epic journeys on two different sailing ships, conducting scientific experiments and charting the uncharted.  An unabridged version of his journal is available, but the edited version is a good way to get started: B&N.com: More Information.

My good friend, Allan Priddy, who has spent a good amount of time on Anarctica first suggested this book to me and everything he said about it was true.  Indeed, it's about one of the most astonishing feats of human endurance ever recorded. While on a sledging journey several hundred miles from his base camp, one of Mawson's fellow explorers fell and was lost in a crevasse. Along with him went most of their supplies. About a month later, Mawson's remaining companion died.  He trekked on alone, surviving storms and hunger, only to reach base camp hours after the expedition's supply ship had left.  B&N.com: More Information.

The five-year journey of the HMS Beagle, from England to Brazil to the Galapagos to Tahiti to New Zealand, from one side of the ocean to the other: the geological and biological discoveries and the seeds of Darwin's famous theory that to this day still sparks controversy.  B&N.com: More Information.

During World War I, Lawrence (more popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia from the title of 1966 David Lean movie) lives and works with the Arabs to foment rebellion against their Turkish rulers.   B&N.com: More Information.

In 1795, Mungo Park, a Scottish doctor, undertakes an expedition to explore the course of the River Niger and visit the fabled city of Timbuctoo.  B&N.com: More Information.

Tom Wolfe chronicles America's space program through its colorful personalities: Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Guss Grissom, and the other Mercury astronauts and their families.  B&N.com: More Information.

In 1895, Joshua Slocum set sail from Boston.  Three years later, he returned, making the first solo circumnavigation of the globe.  B&N.com: More Information.

Roberts, who has done much to invigorate mountaineering writing, describes two expeditions to the Alaska Range: one to Mt. Deborah and the other to Mt. Huntington.  Roberts originally published the narratives in two separate books, but the Mountaineers has conveniently packaged both in one special edition.  B&N.com: More Information

Travelling disguised as an Arab merchant, Burton explores the forbidden Moslem city of Harar.  B&N.com: More Information.

In 1991, in a rare merging of three separate weather systems, a storm of unimaginable intensity hits the the northeastern seaboard. Junger's story centers on a fishing boat with six on board caught in the fury of the storm.     B&N.com: More Information.

"A Western classic, by a man who was to become one of America's foremost historians and scholars. Between the days of the Mountain Men and before the Civil War, prior to the great streams of immigrants who filled the western wilderness..." More Extensive Review by Jeff Tucker.  B&N.com: More Information.

Stanley is most famous for the four words: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"  That was his well-mannered greeting when he finally located Livingstone, a missionary, doctor, and explorer who had been missing for years in unknown regions of Africa.  The two volumes of Through the Dark Continent describes Stanley's intrepid explorations of central Africa and his dangerous journey down the unexplored Congo River.  Barnes & Noble.com:  Volume I  &  Volume II.

A Lady’s Life is a rare, gem of a book which uses a series of letters to describe an Englishwomen’s 1873 journey in the Colorado Rockies.  See More Extensive Review.  B&N.com: More Information.

34. In the Land of White Death.   By Valerian Albanov (1817)  

In 1914, Valerian Albanov and his Russian companions are on a sailing ship searching for new lucrative hunting grounds to the north when they are caught in Arctic pack ice.  After well over a year, and the ship still frozen in the ice, thirteen of the men, pulling sleds and kayaks, and led by Albanov, began an arduous 235-mile survival march in an attempt to find land and help.   B&N.com: More Information.

In 1914 Ernest Shackleton set off on a journey to traverse the Antarctic continent via the South Pole.  Frank (F. A.) Worsley was the captain of the Shackleton's ship.  The ship, named Endurance, never made it to the coast, becoming frozen in the pack ice.  Things went from bad to worse.  The following year, Worsley watched his ship crushed and destroyed by the mammoth forces created by shifting floes of ice.  Their escape climaxed by an 800-mile journey in a small, open boat to St. Georgia Island. Their route: across one of the most dangerous and capricious stretches of cold, open ocean anyway on the globe.  Navigation was vitally important.  One tiny error and they would miss St. Georgia and end up lost in the vastness of the southern Ocean.  Frank Worsley was the navigator--and this is Worsley's engrossing narrative of that epic journey.  B&N.com: More Information.

Scrambles Amongst the Alps is one of the best representations of writing from the golden age of mountaineering in the mid and late 1800’s. See More Extensive Review.  B&N.com: More Information.

Isak Dinesen is the pseudonym for Karen Blixen, a Danish aristocrat and celebrated writer who wrote Seven Gothic Tales.  Out of Africa (upon which the Sydney Pollack film is based) is about her experiences--and love life--as a pioneer coffee farmer in Kenya from 1914 to 1931.  B&N.com: More Information.

One of the great dramas of exploration took place in 1911 and 1912, when a British team under the leadership of Robert Falcon Scott and a Norwegian team under the leadership of  Roald Amundsen were engaged in a race to reach the South Pole.  Scott and his party perished on the return journey. This is his journal.  See More Extensive Review.  B&N.com: More Information.

In 1963, as a team of climbers are putting the first Americans on the summit of Everest, Hornbein and Willie Unsoeld undertake a bold new route via the West Ridge.  It's an audicious route, way ahead of its time.  They make it, but on the way down, and out of supplemental oxygen, they are forced bivoac at 28,000 feet, an altitude known to mountaineers as the death zone.  B&N.com: More Information.

Author Greene's trek trip to and about Liberia in west Africa, a country created for released slaves.   B&N.com: More Information.

Gaston Rubuffat isn't as well known these days, but at one time, he was a household word in the outdoor community.  A number of years ago when I worked for the Outdoor Program at Idaho State, we used to receive catalogs addressed to Gaston Piton.  It was spoof, of course, a take-off on Rebuffat's name.  One of our student workers apparently had sent multiple catalog requests using the alias -- and had been quite effective.  Six or seven years after the fact, we were still receiving catalogs for Gaston Piton.  But had he known, Rubuffat would have thoroughly enjoyed lending his name to the effort.  When you read his writings, almost lyrical in nature, he comes off as someone filled with a joy for living -- and climbing, of course.  In the post World War II period, Rubuffat was one of the giants, putting up numerous classic ascents in the Alps and participating in the first ascent of Annapurna in the Himalaya.  This is the story of those days.   B&N.com: More Information.

What can be said about John Muir?  America is certainly better off because of him.  At a time when few cared, he worked tirelessly for the preservation of wilderness.  It was his writings about Yosemite which ultimately convinced a nation and congress that the area should be protected.  In My First Summer, which takes place in 1869, Muir is working for a sheep herder and we follow along as he discovers the wonders of what he would later call The Range of Light.  B&N.com: More Information.

Jeff Tucker's Review: "A summary of Hedin's fantastic career as an explorer, in the middle east, in Central Asia, and in Tibet. Written for a more casual 'armchair audience' than his scholarly accounts were, this book will keep you reading as adventure after adventure is colorfully described, in the near-disastrous first crossings of the Takla Makan Desert, penetration of high passes in the Pamir or Himalaya or Kunlun Mountains, and encounters with bandits or bouts with starvation. Beautifully described scenes of discoveries and incidents abound."  B&N.com: More Information.

O'Hanlon is a British natural history writer and contributor to the Times-triad: The Times, New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.  In Trouble is his humorous account of a four-month journey that he took to the Venezuelan jungle.  B&N.com: More Information.

Fletcher’s journey from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other.  There’s no death defying climbing or canyoneering found in this book.  He tells no edge-of-the-seat tales of becoming lost or struggling without water.  Yet, Fletcher makes the trek interesting by taking us along, inviting us to be a participant and sharing with us what he is experiencing. See More Extensive Review.   B&N.com: More Information.

Alone is the story of Richard Bryd's six months of isolation in a remote weather station in Antarctica in 1933.   The lack of companionship, coupled with the long, black days of the interminable polar winter, extract a mental and physical toll from Byrd.  Yet there is something else, some other sinister element at the root of the explorer's deteriorating condition.  Almost before it is too late, Byrd discovers that he has been slowly poisoned by a carbon monoxide leak from a defective stove installation.  Reissued by Island Press, this classic story of Arctic adventure is now available to a new generation of readers.  B&N.com: More Information.

"The prolific writer-explorer of Tibetan topics, in the early part of this century, dreamed of actually reaching the forbidden city of Lhasa, and finally, with her indefatigable companion monk, Yongden, she made a remarkable pilgrimage to Lhasa, disguised as a pilgrim . . " More Extensive Review by Jeff Tucker.  B&N.com: More Information.

56. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile.  By John Hanning Speke (1863).  

Liam Guilar's Review: "Huge but fascinating insight into the mentality of a Victorian 'Explorer.' What he left out is almost as interesting as what he put in." B&N.com: More Information.

The story of the first full descent of the 4,200 mile length of the Amazon River from source to sea--big rapids, drug runners, guerrillas--it's all there, the stuff of adventure.   B&N.com: More Information.

The story of a plane crash in the Andes and the desperate depravities forced upon the survivors in order to stay alive.   B&N.com: More Information.

Liam Guilar'sReview: "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."  B&N.com: More Information.

While on a descent of a cutting-edge climb of a South American peak, Simpson falls and breaks his leg.  His partner lowers the incapacitated climber down steep snow slopes, but at one point, he loses control and Simpson falls and dangles over the edge of the cliff.  His partner who is being pulled off his belay stance is left no other choice than to cut the rope. Thinking that Simpson is dead, the partner returns to base.  Simpson, however, is still very much alive.  He manages to climb out of a crevasse, and then begins crawling.  You won't be able to put this one down.  It's a remarkable story.   B&N.com: More Information.

The intrepid, Robyn Davidson, treks across the out-back of Australia.  Her companions?  None other than her dog and four camels.  This is a wonderfully written work that will keep the bedside lamp burning late into the night.    B&N.com: More Information.

"Over a twelve year period, the mountain man and fur trapper Russell kept a journal of his experiences. In it we find descriptions of the great fur rendezvous, brushes with danger both human and animal, and of the country through which he passed ..." More Extensive Review by Jeff Tucker.  B&N.com: More Information.

A collection of writings of the famous Italian mountaineer Walter Bonatti.  Includes narratives of his experiences in the Alps, South America and the Himalayas.  B&N.com: More Information.

If PBS (Public Broadcasting System) would have been around in the 1920's, 30's and 40's, they would have made Osa and Martin Johnson a mainstay.  Explorers and film makers from Kansas, this popular couple fascinated a public eager for the exotic with their adventures in Borneo, Africa, and the South Pacific.  B&N.com: More Information.   

Reinhold Messner, who was the first to summit all fourteen of the world's highest peaks, is clearly one of the giants of mountaineering.  This, in his own words, is his extraordinary 1980 solo ascent of the north side of Everest.     B&N.com: More Information.