If you had to make a list of the top twenty-five
adventure books of all
time, which would you choose? You’d probably include Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, perhaps his Into the
Wild as well. Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm would probably make this list as well, if only
because these books are part of the current zeitgeist, but you know they will remains classics of the
genre.
Then reaching back, you’d probably add F.A. Worsley’s Endurance, and Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia
(which I read while in Patagonia and thought it one of the best book’s I’d ever read. Period.). Perhaps then Apsley
Cherry-Garrard The Worst Journey in the World and Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard. These are all
books that come to mind (among numerous others) and all of them make Outside Magazine’s 25 best adventure books of all
time.
But would Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Wind, Sand And Stars be on your list? I wouldn’t have included it, but
that’s only because I’ve never read it. But now that it actually tops Outside’s list, I’m going to have to reconsider
and read the damn thing. Anyway, take a look at the Outside list and check off the ones you’ve read. We welcome
comments here on any books you think are missing, and those on the list you’ve enjoyed.