Recommendations based on Desert Solitaireby Edward Abbey

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

    by Aldo Leopold
    A reflection on nature, paying homage to the beauty of the Wisconsin countryside.

    First published in 1949, A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written ... (Goodreads)

  2. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

    by Jon Krakauer
    A gripping narrative of the 1996 expedition on Mount Everest that resulted in tragedy.

    When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. ... (Goodreads)

  3. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

    by Bill Bryson
    A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.

    The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Walden

    by Henry David Thoreau
    A reflective journey into nature, exploring the power of contemplation and simplicity.

    Originally published in 1854, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and ... (Goodreads)

  5. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

    by Jon Krakauer
    An exploration of the fundamentalist Mormon faith, its history, and the power of religious extremism.

    A Story of Violent Faith A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of ... (Goodreads)

  6. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

    by Alfred Lansing
    True story of a remarkable Antarctic expedition, a testament to the power of courage and tenacity.

    The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age. In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest ... (Goodreads)

  7. The World Without Us

    by Alan Weisman
    A thought experiment exploring how the Earth and its species would fare without the presence of humans.

    A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth In The World Without Us , Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to ... (Goodreads)

  8. Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival

    by Joe Simpson
    Gripping account of a mountaineer's harrowing survival after a fall in the Peruvian Andes.

    Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking ... (Barnes & Noble)

  9. Blue Highways

    by William Least Heat-Moon
    A pilgrimage across America, exploring the people, places and stories of small towns.

    Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing,, Blue Highways, is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

    by Caroline Alexander
    A gripping account of the famous Antarctic exploration, led by Ernest Shackleton.

    In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

    by Michael Pollan
    Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.

    What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)

  12. Travels with Charley: In Search of America

    by John Steinbeck
    A road trip across America, exploring the culture and landscape of the country.

    A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the ... (Goodreads)

  13. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

    by Jon Krakauer
    A collection of mountaineering stories, exploring the experiences of climbers and the beauty of the mountains.

    No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains ... (Goodreads)

  14. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors

    by Piers Paul Read
    Story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players who survive a plane crash in the Andes and must fight to stay alive.

    On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the forty-five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the ... (Goodreads)

  15. A People's History of the United States

    by Howard Zinn
    An examination of American history from a perspective of marginalized people.

    In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen ... (Goodreads)

  16. Silent Spring

    by Rachel Carson
    Expose of the environmental damage caused by the widespread use of chemical pesticides.

    Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading ... (Goodreads)

  17. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

    by Christopher McDougall
    A thrilling exploration of the Tarahumara tribe and their superhuman running abilities.

    Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does ... (Goodreads)

  18. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

    by Annie Dillard
    A reflective journey through nature, exploring the mysteries of the natural world.

    An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons—a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, ... (Goodreads)

  19. Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    Epic tale of exploration and adventure as Lewis and Clark traverse the American wilderness.

    'This was much more than a bunch of guys out on an exploring and collecting expedition. This was a military expedition into hostile territory'. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his ... (Goodreads)

  20. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

    by Dee Brown
    An in-depth account of the displacement of Native American tribes by the US government.

    Now a special 30th-anniversary edition in both hardcover and paperback, the classic bestselling history The New York Times called "Original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking...Impossible to put ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

    by Simon Winchester
    True story of a murderer's contribution to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

    The book tells the story of the making of the, Oxford English Dictionary, (OED) and one of its most prolific early contributors, William Chester Minor , a retired United States Army surgeon . Minor ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Snow Leopard

    by Peter Matthiessen
    A spiritual journey to the Himalayas, seeking to observe a rare snow leopard.

    When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

    by Tom Wolfe
    A journey through the psychedelic 1960s and the lives of an eclectic group of people.

    Tom Wolfe chronicles the adventures of Ken Kesey and his group of followers. Throughout the work, Kesey is portrayed as desiring the creation of a new religion. Kesey forms a group of followers based ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea

    by Steven Callahan
    A harrowing tale of survival at sea after a shipwreck, and a man's inner journey.

    Before The Perfect Storm , before In the Heart of the Sea , Steven Callahan's dramatic tale of survival at sea was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than thirty-six weeks. In some ways ... (Goodreads)

  25. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

    by J.D. Vance
    An exploration of the struggles of working-class Americans, and the power of family and culture to shape one's life.

    Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

    by Thich Nhat Hanh
    A practical guide to meditation and mindfulness, exploring their power to bring peace and joy.

    In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness–being awake and fully aware. From washing ... (Goodreads)

  27. Between the World and Me

    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.

    “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)

  28. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    by Aron Ralston
    A harrowing true story of one man's fight for survival after being trapped in a canyon.

    A brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life which will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. One ... (Goodreads)

  29. Tao Te Ching

    by Lao Tzu
    A collection of wise sayings and reflections on the nature of existence.

    A lucid translation of the well-known Taoist classic by a leading scholar-now in a Shambhala Pocket Library edition. Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Teh Ching , or -The Classic of ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

    by Carl Sagan
    A critical look at superstition and pseudoscience, advocating for the power of science and reason.

    How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? ... (Goodreads)