Travel Writing & Commentary

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe - and built her back up again....

In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases....

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain....

Into Thin Air is the definitive, personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest...

She got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone....

The River of Doubt brings alive extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived....

In less than a year, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie.....

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. Listen to the audio edition now....

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down, and over the Appalachian Trail...

The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern....

Only four men survived the plane crash. The pilot. A politician. A cop... and the criminal he was shackled to....

In the wilderness, one false step can make the difference between a delightful respite and a brush with death....

To live in a pristine land unchanged by man... to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed....

Step inside this captivating account of Paulo Coehlo's pilgrimage along the road to Santiago. This fascinating parable explores the need to find one's own path....

From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour....

Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life - from six weeks to four months to two years - to discover and experience the world on your own terms....

From the author of the best-selling, widely acclaimed Heat comes a hilariously self-deprecating, highly obsessive account of the author's adventures, in the world of French haute cuisine, for anyone who's ever found joy in cooking and eating food with their family....

With a brand-new, original introduction from Rick reflecting on his decades of travel, For the Love of Europe features 100 of the best stories published throughout his career. Covering his adventures through Europe, these are stories only Rick Steves could tell....

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land....

After running an ultramarathon through the Copper Canyons of Mexico, Christopher McDougall finds his next great adventure on the razor-sharp mountains of Crete....

The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon....

The "magic" of wine is renowned wine expert Kermit Lynch's subject as he takes the listener on a singular journey through the Loire, Bordeaux, the Languedoc, Provence, northern and southern Rhone, and Burgundy....

Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil....

A thrilling new adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of the New York Times best seller Shadow Divers....

From CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Conor Knighton, a behind-the-scenery look at his year traveling to each of America's National Parks, discovering the most beautiful places and most interesting people our country has to offer....

"Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path....

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the listener from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness....

After graduating from college, Jennifer isn't sure what she wants to do with her life. She is drawn to the Appalachian Trail, a 2,175-mile footpath that stretches from Georgia to Maine....

A Course Called Ireland is the story of a walking-averse golfer who treks his way around an entire country, spending 16 weeks playing every seaside hole in Ireland....

In August 2008, Amanda Lindhout traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia - "the most dangerous place on Earth." On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted....

When I was 12 years old, my father, brother and I walked 372 miles from Umhlanga Rocks, just north of Durban, South Africa, to Lourenco Marques in Mocambique. On the trip, my father kept a very brief diary, jotting down what we did on each day and revealing some of his thoughts and feelings along the way in a matter-of-fact style so typical of him. I made a copy of his diary when I was still a boy and have always treasured it because of what the trip meant to me. In this audiobook I want to share about how my father, through the adventures he took us on.

Through stories remembered and imagined, A Stranger's Pose draws the listener into a world of encounters in more than a dozen African towns. Iduma blends memoir, travelogue, and storytelling in these fragments of a traveler’s journey across several African cities. 

In 2018 Maria picked up the pen again and started writing her second book Dunnarunna - A Retirement Dunn Right, which follows their first five years of travelling around Australia. The highs, the lows, and everything in between, are written in Maria's voice. You can hear her talking when you listen to her personal diaries and experiences of her travelling life. There is never a dull moment, according to Maria. Life on the road is never boring. It can be challenging, rewarding, funny, and, sometimes, downright scary, but never boring.

Sailing around the world on a luxury cruise would seem to be a very "worldly" thing to do. But the year was 1977, the ship was the Queen Elizabeth 2, and world cruising was just getting started. During the three-month voyage across the Caribbean, South America, South Africa, India, south-east Asia, and into communist China, author Christine Darg and her husband Peter encountered people and places from a now fading memory. 

The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel.

Carefully culled from her past work, The Abundance is quintessential Annie Dillard, delivered in her fierce and undeniably singular voice, filled with fascinating detail and metaphysical fact. The pieces within will exhilarate both admiring fans and a new generation of readers and listeners, having been “re-framed and re-hung”, with fresh editing and reordering by the author, to situate these now seminal works within her larger canon. 

Through people-to-people encounters, we expand our sense of mutual understanding and respect. Welcome Back to Abuja Once Again: How I Became a Citizen of the World highlights how rewarding it is to engage people from around the world. Learning from others who are different from us reveals our common humanity and enhances our ability to solve problems and deal with global crises.

The Earth is trying to teach us to live better. To lead richer, happier lives. Will we continue down the limited path of the mechanical mind? Or will we tune into ultimate intelligence? The same intelligence that allows blood to flow through our veins, bees to pollinate flowers, birds to fly south, salmon to spawn, whales to migrate, caterpillars to become butterflies, the Earth to rotate, the moon to orbit, and the rest of nature to function perfectly of its own accord? 

Two centuries ago, nearly half the North American diet was foraged, hunted, or caught in the wild. Today, so-called “wild foods” are becoming expensive luxuries, served to the wealthy in top restaurants. Meanwhile, people who depend on wild foods for survival and sustenance find their lives forever changed as new markets and roads invade the world’s last untamed landscapes. In Feasting Wild, geographer and anthropologist Gina Rae La Cerva embarks on a global culinary adventure to trace our relationship to wild foods.

In the summer of 1978, 21-year-old Paul Wilson jumps at the chance to join two local icons on a dream surf trip to mainland Mexico, unaware their ultimate destination lies in the heart of drug cartel country. Having no earthly idea of where he’ll get the money to pay his share, and determined to prove his mettle, he does the only thing he can think of.