14 Books for the Armchair Traveler

by Alan Perlman
on August 23rd, 2010
2 Comments

“Worldwide travel is not compulsory. Great minds have been fostered entirely by staying close to home. Moses never got further than the Promised Land. Da Vinci and Beethoven never left Europe. Shakespeare hardly went anywhere at all-certainly not to Elsinore or the coast of Bohemia.”

–Jan Morris

Not all of us interested in travel have the opportunity to jet off to places unknown. We may be short on time, or money, or like the one summer all transpired events prevented my brother and I from traveling to Japan, sometimes it’s just not meant to be. Tokyo still beckons.

As I found out that summer, there are plenty of ways to satiate the nagging itch of the travel bug. My personal favorite? Reading travel literature. It’s cheap, lasts a good amount of time, you almost always learn something and it’s a good way to connect to a place emotionally, even if you’re not able to visit.

So, curl into your favorite recliner (or local coffee shop) and start flipping pages. Here are some of my favorite titles to get you started.

Don’t forget a proper bookmark.

In Patagonia, by Bruce Chatwin

Often touted as one of the best travel books ever written, Chatwin explores Patagonia in a collection of bizarre anecdotes and stories. He’s more of a storyteller than a traditional travel writer, but if you’re at all fascinated by the Patagonia region (Chatwin sure was), this book is numero uno when it comes to literature.

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer

One of the first books I ever remember reading more than once (I’ve since read it 5-6 times), Into Thin Air is a book about Mount Everest. Unraveling the history of the region and mountain and chronicling the deadliest season in mountaineering history, Jon Krakauer sheds light on the process and unpredictable variables of mountaineering. It’s an amazing story and eventually convinced me to study abroad in Kathmandu.

Dark Star Safari, by Paul Theroux

Theroux is a travel writer in the finest sense. Most people would recommend The Great Railway Bazaar, but personally I connected more with Dark Star Safari. Theroux starts in Cairo and travels overland to Capetown, narrating his experience in the kind of rich, emotional (and sometimes cynical) tone one might expect from one of the greatest world travelers of all time.

The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner

I recently read this as part of my travel book club at work. Weiner, a self-professed grump, travels the world in search of happiness. My favorite chapters are Iceland, Qatar and Moldova, the latter deemed the saddest country in the world.

Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East, by Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is a “traveler writer beyond compare.” Similar to Theroux, Iyer ranks as one of the best travel writers of all time. This is a great introduction to his engaging, illustrative style and satirical wit. With a journalist’s eye for details (for four years, Iyer wrote world affairs for Time), Iyer takes the reader on a journey through wacky, bizarre Asia.

The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart

In January 2002, just weeks after the Taliban was ousted, Rory Stewart decides to walk across Afghanistan, and to write about it. From Herat to Kabul (this journey comes at the end of a two-year walk across Asia), Stewart explores an unsafe, devastated landscape, meeting foreign-aid workers, displaced Taliban officials and villagers. Through his encounters, Stewart paints an incredibly moving portrait of war-torn Afghanistan.

In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson

Hands down the best book about Australia you’ll ever read. Bryson is comical and a hell of a good writer. Read about one of the most under-appreciated countries in the world. From it’s dangerous creatures and wide, expansive outback to it’s wacky politics and breathtaking harbors, Australia is an interesting country. Bryson does it justice.

White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga

While White Tiger is a fictional account, it explores a unique angle of Indian culture. Honestly, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s an exciting murder mystery, and while I’d like to give more away, I simply can’t. If you read this book, you’ll thank me. I’m calling it now, they will make this into a movie at some point. Maybe the same team that did Slumdog Millionaire?

Travels, by Michael Crichton

Wait, the same Michael Crichton that wrote Jurassic Park and Sphere? If you didn’t know, Crichton is a prolific traveler. His background is in medicine, and he was traveling to Africa and parts of Asia back in the 70s, before it was easy. If you’re at all familiar with Crichton’s work, you know how great of a writer he is. Be forewarned, though, as the latter half of the book revolves around his spiritual and new-age experiences (like reading auras and talking to a cactus). It came unexpected.

Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts

Rolf Parts is a legend, and this book is a bible for long-term travelers. He writes about how to negotiate time off of work, how to prepare for extended travel and how to best enjoy one’s experiences on the road. Interestingly enough, Potts started a remarkable challenge this past Saturday; traveling to 12 countries in 42 days, without any luggage.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, by Philip Gourevitch

Gourevitch explores the Rwandan Genocide, repeatedly visiting the country to make sense of what happened. After reading this book, you’ll never think about the conflict the same way again. It’s a ghastly, poignant exposé that unravels the complexities of one of the worst accounts of genocide in world history. It’s an amazing book and serves as a comprehensive, engaging complement to the movie, Hotel Rwanda.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins

While writing this book (which was started and stopped four times over a twenty year period, Perkins was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the story. Working as a chief economist for a strategic-consulting firm, Perkins acted as an “economic hit man,” helping to blackmail foreign leaders to serve U.S. foreign policy through large, lucrative contracts to American businesses. It’s a true story, gripping, dark, full of behind-the-scenes information about foreign politics around the world. If you’re not cynical of governmental machinations, this book will change that.

A Cook’s Tour, by Anthony Bourdain

Bourdain is hilarious. After his breakout success, Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain eventually ended up on the Travel Channel, hosting a show called No Reservations. A Cook’s Tour is about filming the first season. He’s raw, unforgiving and has an attention-to-detail most writers would kill for. Learn about different cultures through Bourdain’s culinary adventures.

Seven Years in Tibet, by Heinrich Harrer

An incredible and true story. Harrer, an Austrian mountaineer, gets imprisoned in Tibet during WWII. Upon escaping, he befriends the Dalai Lama and gains unique insight into a part of the world that, at that time, was closed to foreigners. Also a great movie, though Brad Pitt’s accent is questionable.

Alan Perlman

Alan Perlman travels the world as an international cost-of-living surveyor. When he's not hunting for the price of female undergarments in places like Syria, Rwanda and Turkmenistan, he's hanging out in Boston, MA, staying active, meeting people and brainstorming business models. You can read more about Alan and his plans to conquer life at his blog, The 9 to 5 Alternative.