Best Books, Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, Science & Nature

The Best Hiking & Memoir Books

February 2, 2016April 30, 2022 by

“What are the best hiking books?” We looked at 26 top hiking lists, and found 463 different books. Of the 463 books, 46 titles appeared multiple times, and were aggregated into the list below. The books fall into several different categories, there are the books about hiking, books to read on a hike, and a large amount of traveling memoirs. So many memoirs in fact that we decided to alter the title of the article to accurately describe the results. As always you can see our methodology here.

What can be found in a Best Hiking & Memoir Listicle:

Covers with backpacker profiles as they look out at nature
Jack Kerouac & Jon Krakauer
Appalachian Hikes
Non-hike related travel stories
The word “walk”
People failing to complete hikes

The Top 46 Hiking Books

46) A Thousand-Mile Walk To The Gulf by John Muir

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

45) A Walk for Sunshine: A 2,160 Mile Expedition for Charity on the Appalachian Trail by Jeff Alt

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

44) Appalachian Trials: The Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-Hiking The Appalachian Trail by Zach Davis

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

14) Zero Days: The Real Life Adventure of Captain Bligh, Nellie Bly, and 10-year-old Scrambler on the Pacific Crest Trail by Barbara Egbert

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Additional 417 Books Appearing on a Single List

1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Shultz
1984 by George Orwell
26 Gorgeous Hikes on the Western Cote d’Azur
55 Hikes Around Snoqualmie Pass: Mountains to Sound Greenway
60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Seattle
A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple’s Trial by Trail
A Canyon Voyage: Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition Down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on
Land, in the Years 1871-72 by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
A Field Guide to the Grand Canyon by Stephen R. Whitney
A Handful of Honey by Annie Hawes
A House in Fez by Suzanna Clarke
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson
A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond, Jim Whittaker
A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski by Erin McKittrick
A Million Steps by Kurt Koontz
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
A Pig in Provence by Georgeanne Brennan
A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboonsby David Sapolsky
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby (1958)
A Slender Thread: Escaping Disaster in the Himalaya, Stephen Venables
A Survival Guide to the Camino de Santiago in Galicia
A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena De Blasi
A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thru-Hiker’s Heart, Tales of the Pacific Crest Trail
A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard
A Walker’s Journal
A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe
A Woman’s World by Marybeth Bond
A Year in the World by Frances Mayes
Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer, Anatoli Boukreev
Absurdistan
Accidents in North American Mountaineering, Issue 59,The American Alpine Club
Addicted to Danger, Jim Wickwire and Dorothy Bullitt
Adventure Divas by Holly Morris
Alaska Ascents: World-Class Mountaineers Tell Their Stories, Bill Sherwonit, ed.
Alaska Traveler by Dana Stabenow
All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
All Over the Map by Laura Fraser
All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith
Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backpackin’ Book
Almost French by Sarah Turnball
An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
An Umbrian Love Story by Marlena De Blasi
Annapurna South Face, Chris Bonnington
Annapurna, Maurice Herzog
Annapurna: A Woman’s Place, Arlene Blum
Appalachian Impressions (DVD)
Appalachian Trail Data Book – 2014
Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers’ Companion (2014)
Arabian Sands, Wilfred Thesiger (1959)
Archaeology Geology and Paleobiology of Stantons Cave, Grand Canyon National Park Arizona by Robert C. Euler
Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez (1986)
Ascent: The Spiritual and Physical Quest of Legendary Mountaineer Willi Unsoeld, Laurence Leamer
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
At Home in France by Ann Barry
Avoiding Prison and other Noble Vacation Goals by Wendy Dale
Backpack by Emily Barr
Barefoot Sisters Southbound by Lucy Letcher and Susan Letcher
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes
Below Another Sky: A Mountain Adventure in Search of a Lost Father, Rick Ridgeway
Beneath the Rim : A Photographic Journey through the Grand Canyon by C. C. Lockwood
Beyond Mount Si: The Best Hikes Within 85 Miles of Seattle
Beyond the Limits: A Woman’s Triumph on Everest, Stacy Allison with Peter Carlin
Beyond the Mountain, Steve House
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Blind Courage
Blood River
Blue Highways: A Journey into America
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Book Lust to Go by Nancy Pearl
Born to Run
Boundless Horizons: The Autobiography of Chris Bonington, Chris Bonington
Breaking Point: Challenge on Alaska’s Mt. Hunter, Glenn Randall
Breathless by Nancy K. Miller
Brotherhood of the Rope: The Biography of Charles Houston, Bernadette McDonald
Buried in the Sky by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
Burmese Lessons by Karen Connelly
Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonesca
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
Chasing the Devil:
Claiming Ground
Climb: Stories of Survival from Rock, Snow and Ice, Clint Willis, ed.
Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World, Lynn Hill
Climbing High, Lene Gammelgaard
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
Coming into the Country, John McPhee (1976)
Conquistadors of the Useless, Lionel Terray
Cosima by Grazia Delleda
Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair
Cycle Touring in France
Cycling in the French Alps
Cycling the Canal du Midi
Daisy Miller by Henry James
Dances With Marmots – A Pacific Crest Trail Adventure
Dancing Skeletons by Katherine A. Dettwyler
Danger Stalks the Land: Alaskan Tales of Death and Survival, Larry Kaniut
Dark Star Safari, Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
Dark Summit::The True Story of Everest’s Most Controversial Season, Nick Heil
Day Hike! Central Cascades
Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest, Lincoln Hall
DEAD MEN HIKE NO TRAILS
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, Laurence Gonzales
Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey (1968)
Detectives on Everest: The 2001 Mallory & Irvine Research ExpeditionJochen Hemmleb, Eric Simonsson and Dave Hahn
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney
Dreams of a Thousand Lives by Karen Connelly
Educating Alice by Alice Steinbach
Eiger Dreams, Jon Krakauer
Eiger: Wall of Death, Arthur Roth
Endurance, F.A. Worsley (1931)
Epic: Stories of Survival from the World’s Highest Peaks, Clint Willis, ed.
Everest: Alone at the Summit, Stephen Venables
Everest: The West Ridge, Thomas Hornbein
Every Day In Tuscany by Frances Mayes
Everything is Going to be Great by Rachel Shukert
Extreme Alpinism:Climbing Light, Fast & High, Mark F. Twight
Extreme Survivors:
Facing the Extreme, Ruth Kocour and Michael Hodgson
Fast Times in Palestine by Pamela Olsen
Fatal Mountaineer, Robert Roper
First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite
First They Killed My Father
Five Miles High, Robert H. Bates and Charles S. Houston, M.D.
Forever on the Mountain, James M. Tabor
Forty-Something Phoenix by Marlayna Glynn Brown
Free Spirit: A Climber’s Life, Reinhold Messner
French By Heart by Rebecca S. Ramsey
Full Tilt, Ireland to India with a Bicycle
Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine, Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson and Eric S. Simonson
Good Morning Midnight: Life and Death in the Wild, Chip Brown
Grand Canyon Treks I, II, III by Dr. Harvey Butchart
Grand Canyon, a Century of Change, the rephotography of the 1889-1890 Stanton Expedition
Granny D: Walking Across America in my Ninetieth Year
Great Plains, Ian Frazier (1989)
Happier Than a Billionaire by Nadine Hays Pisani
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Have Mother, Will Travel by Claire and Mia Fontaine
Hearing Birds Fly by Louisa Waugh
Heart of Darkness:
Heidi’s Alp by Christina Hardyment
Hermann Buhl:Climbing Without Compromise, Reinhold Messner, Horst Hofler
High and Wild: Essays and Photographs on Wilderness Adventures, Galen Rowell
High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed, Michael Kodas
High Exposure, David Breashears
High: Stories of Survival from Everest and K2, Clint Willis, ed.
Hiking in The Grand Canyon Backcountry by J. D. Green, Jim Ohlman Editor
Hiking the Grand Canyon (A Sierra Club Totebook) by John Annerino
Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams
Holding Fast:The Untold Story of the Mt. Hood Tragedy, Karen James
Holiday Walks in Provence
Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald
Honeymoon with my Brother:
How to Sh*t in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art
Hunting Badger
I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool For Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail by Gail Storey
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
In Beauty May She Walk; Hiking the Appalachian Trail at 60
In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin (1977)
In the Shadow of Denali, Jonathan Waterman
In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, Galen Rowell
In the Zone:Epic Survival Stories from the Mounaineering World, Peter Potterfield
Incontinent on the Continent by Jane Christmas
Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness
Indonesia Etc.. Exploring the Improbable Nation
Jasmine and Fire by Rosemary Mahoney
John Muir : Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California;
Stickeen; Essays
Just a Little Run Around the World
K2-The Savage Mountain, Charles Houston and Robert Bates
K2, Triumph and Tragedy, Jim Curran
K2:Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain, Ed Viesturs with David Roberts
K2:The 1939 Tragedy, Andrew J. Kaufman and William Lowell Putnam
K2:The Story of the Savage Mountain, Jim Curran
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez
Kiss or Kill – Confessions of a Serial Climber, Mark Twight
Kon-Tiki, Across the Pacific by Raft
Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl (1950)
Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance, Peter Stark
Last Man in the Tower:
Last Season, Eric Blehm
Latest or any edition of “The Best American Short Stories” (2013 edition edited by Elizabeth Strout)
Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest, Beck Weathers
Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival, Frances Ashcroft
Life is a Trip by Judith Fein
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Listening for Coyote: A Walk Across Oregon’s Wilderness
Living My Life by Emma Goldman
Lonely Planet: Better Than Fiction
Lonely Planet: On the Edge by Cecil Kuhne
Loop Hikes I, II by George Steck
Lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lou Whitaker: Memoirs of a Mountain Guide
Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know
Marching powder by Rusty Young
Marcus of Umbria by Justine van der Leun
Minus 148º: First Winter Ascent of Mt. McKinley, Art Davidson
Missing in the Minarets: The Search for Walter A. Starr, Jr., William Alsup
Mixed Emotions: Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child, Greg Child
Moments of Doubt: And Other Mountaineering Writings, David Roberts
Motorcycle diaries by Ernesto ‘ Che’ Guevara
Mountain Girl
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 6th Ed., Don Graydon and Kurt Hanson, eds.
Mr. Nice by Howard Marks
Mud, Sweat and Tears
Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan
My Invented Country by Isabel Allende
My Journey to Lhasa, Alexandra David-Neel (1927)
Nandi Devi: The Tragic Expedition, John Roskelley
Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage: The Lonely Challenge, Hermann Buhl
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha by Sarah Erdman
Nine Lives
No Touch Monkey by Ayun Halliday
No Way Down: Life and Death on K2 Graham Bowley
Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire, Nicholas Howe
Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris
Off the Rails by Lisa St Aubin de Terán
Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain
Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite, Michael P. Ghiglier and Charles R. Farabee, Jr.
Official Guide to Hiking the Grand Canyon by Scott Thybony
Old Glory, Jonathan Raban (1981)
On the Rez
On the Ridge between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined, David Roberts
Once Upon a River
One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
One Mountain Thousand Summits:The Untold Story of Tragedy and True Heroism on K2 Freddie Wilkinson
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
Overland Track
Paris in Love by Eloisa James
Paris to the Past by Ina Caro
Paris Was Ours by Penelope Rowlands
Passionate Nomad by Jane Fletcher Geniesse
Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie
Postcards from the Ledge: Collected Mountaineering Writings of Greg Child, Greg Child
Pyrenean Haute Route: High-level trail through the Pyrenees
Rambles in Germany and Italy by Mary Shelley
Remember The Carrot: A Change Of Pace On The Appalachian Trail
Return to Paris by Colette Rossant
Royal Road to Romance
Running the Amazon, Joe Kane (1989)
Sailing Alone Around the World, Captain Joshua Slocum (1900)
Scrambles Amongst the Alps, Edward Whymper
Sea and Sardinia by D.H. Lawrence
SEAsoned by Victoria Allman
Second Wind by Cami Ostman
Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen
Seven years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite’s Half Dome, Bob Madgic
Siddhartha
Sideways on a Scooter by Miranda Kennedy
Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail – Bill Walker
Small Feet, Big Land: Adventure, Home, and Family on the Edge of Alaska by Erin McKittrick
Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard
Solemates: Lessons on Life, Love & Marriage from the Appalachian Trail – Randy Motz
Some Girls by Jillian Lauren
Somebody’s Heart is Burning by Tanya Shaffer
Sometimes the Appalachian Trail Is…
South: The story of Shackleton’s 1914-1917 expedition
Spanish Recognitions by Mary Lee Settle
Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik by Marie Javins
Starlight and Storm, Gaston Rebuffat
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain
Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior
Stranger in the Forest:
Stumbling Thru: Hike Your Own Hike – A. Digger Stolz
Summit Fever, Andrew Greig
Summoning the Mountains: Pilgrimage into Forty
Surprised by Oxford by Carlyn Weber
Survival of the Fittest: Understanding Health and Peak Physical Performance, Mike Stroud
Surviving Denali: A Study of Accidents on Mount McKinley 1903-1990, Jonathan Waterman
Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor’s Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance
Take a Hike Seattle
Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Goldmen Gelman
Ten Million Steps: Nimblewill Nomad’s Epic 10-Month Trek from the Florida Keys to Quebec
The A.T. Guide
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
The American Alpine Journal:The World’s Most Significant Climbs
The Appalachian Trail : How to Prepare for & Hike It
The Appalachian Trail Backpacker : Trail-Proven Advice for Hikes of Any Length
The Appalachian Trail: Onward to Katahdin
The Art of Happiness” by H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
The Ascent of Denali, Hudson Stuck
The Barefoot Sisters Southbound – Lucy and Susan Letcher
The Beckoning Silence, Joe Simpson
The Best Women’s Travel Writing by Lavinia Spalding
The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing’s Greatest Generation, Clint Willis
The Canadian Rockies SuperGuide
The Carpet Wars
The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers
The Cathar Way, A Walker’s Guide to the Sentier Cathare
The Circle & What is the What by Dave Eggers
The Climb Up to Hell, Jack Olsen
The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt
The Cloud Garden
The Clumsiest People in Europe by Favell Lee Mortimer
The Complete Walker IV
The Controlled Flood in Grand Canyon by Robert H. Webb
The Cruelest Journey by Kira Salak
The Crystal Horizon, Reinhold Messner
The Dan Brown books (by Dan Brown)
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test:
The Endless Knot:K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny, Kurt Diemberger
The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons by John Wesley Powell
The Falling Season: Inside the Life and Death Drama of Aspen’s Mountain Rescue Team, Hal Clifford
The fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the Worldby Eric Weiner
The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman
The Gr5 Trail: Through the French Alps: Lake Geneva to Nice
The Grand Canyon: Intimate Views by Robert C. Euler
The Hall of the Mountain King: The True Story of a Tragic Climb, Howard H. Snyder
The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey by John Blaustein
The Hiker’s Bible by Robert Elman
The Hill: A True Story of Tragedy, Recovery, and Redemption on North America’s Highest Peak , Ed Hommer
The Hunger games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan
The Killing Fields
The Kite Runner
The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer
The Lady in the Palazzo by Marlena De Blasi
The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2, Rick Ridgeway
The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Long Way, Bernard Moitessier (1971)
The Lost City of Z
The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest, Conrad Anker and David Roberts
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett
The Middle of Somewhere
The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey
The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, David Roberts
The Munros and Tops: A Record-Setting Walk in the Scottish Highlands
The Naked traveller by Trinity
The New Appalachian Trail
The Other Side of Everest, Matt Dickinson
The Pacific Crest Trail
The Piano Tuner:
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Rescue Season, Bob Drury
The River Queen by Marry Morris
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail: A Walking Tour in the Velay and Cevennes, Southern France
The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost
The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn
The Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country
The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen (1978)
The Source of All Things
The Spice Necklace by Ann Vanderhoof
The Theroux books
The Thousand Mile Summer
The Twilight books Stephenie Meyer
The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide: Tools and Techniques to Hit the Trail
The Villan: a Portrait of Don Whillans, James Perrin
The Walk West: A Walk Across America 2
The Walking People: A Native American Oral History by Paula Underwood
The White Death: Tragedy and Heroism in an Avalanche Zone, McKay Jenkins
The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger, Heinrich Harrer
The White Tiger
The Wild Places:
The Worlds Most Dangerous Places
The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)
Thin Air: Encounters in the Himalayas, Greg Child
This Game of Ghosts, Joe Simpson
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations…One School at a Time, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver
Relin
Three Hundred Zeroes: Lessons of the heart on the Appalachian Trail
Tibet’s Secret Mountain:The Triumph of Sepu Kangri, Chris Bennington and Charles Clarke
TIE: Alive, Piers Paul Read (1974); The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger (1997)
Tightwads on the Loose: A Seven Year Pacific Odysseyby Wendy Hinman
To the Top of Denali, Bill Sherwonit
Touching My Father’s Soul: A Sherpa’s Journey to the Top of Everest
Tour of the Queyras: A Circular Walk in the Southern French Alps – GR 58 and GR 541
Tout Sweet by Karen Wheeler
Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd, Ann Kidd Taylor
Travels in a Thin Country by Sara Wheeler
Travels on My Elephant:
Travels With Myself and Another
Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean
Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
TREK – A Journey on the Appalachian Trail (DVD)
Trekking in the Vosges and Jura: The GR5 and Other Walks and Treks
Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey, Goran Kropp
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Very New Orleans by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler
Walk (DVD)
Walking in Provence: Alpes Maritimes, Var, Vaucluse and Northern Provence
Walking in the Dordogne
Walking the Amazon
Walking the World
Walking with Spring – Earl V. Shaffer
Walks in The Cathar Region, Cathar Castles of Southwest France
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
We Aspired: The Last Innocent Americans, Pete Sinclair
What About Your Saucepans? by Lindsay de Feliz
What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim by Jane Christmas
When You Are Engulfed in Flames” by David Sedaris
Where I Was From by Joan Didion
White Winds: America’s Most Tragic Mountaineering Expedition
Wilderness of Awes
Wind, Sand, and Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Without A Map by Meredith Hall
Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach
Zaatar Days, Henna Nights by Maliha Masood
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

The Best Hiking & Memoir Books

What can be found in a Best Hiking & Memoir Listicle:

The Top 46 Hiking Books

46) A Thousand-Mile Walk To The Gulf by John Muir

45) A Walk for Sunshine: A 2,160 Mile Expedition for Charity on the Appalachian Trail by Jeff Alt

44) Appalachian Trials: The Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-Hiking The Appalachian Trail by Zach Davis

43) Are You Experienced? by William Sutcliffe

42) Around the Bloc: My life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana by Stephanie Elizondo Griest

41) As Far As The Eye Can See: Reflections Of An Appalachian Trail Hiker by David Brill

40) Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis

39) Four Corners by Kira Salak

38) Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery

37) Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America (Wanderlearn) by Francis Tapon

36) Hiking Through: One Man’s Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul Stutzman

35) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

34) My Life in France by Julia Child

33) No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs

32) On a Shoestring to Coorg by Dervla Murphy

31) On the Beaten Path: An Appalachian Pilgrimage by Robert Rubin

30) On the Road by Jack Kerouac

29) Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler

28) The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

27) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

26) The Last Season by Eric Blehm

25) The Mountains of My Life by Walter Bonatti

24) The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson

23) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

22) Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

21) Tracks by Robyn Davidson

20) Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck

19) Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman

18) Walden by Henry David Thoreau

17) Walkin’ on the Happy Side of Misery: A Slice of Life on the Appalachian Trail by Junis R. Tate

16) Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves

15) Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

14) Zero Days: The Real Life Adventure of Captain Bligh, Nellie Bly, and 10-year-old Scrambler on the Pacific Crest Trail by Barbara Egbert

13) A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

12) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

11) Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

10) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

9) The Beach by Alex Garland

8) The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

7) The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara

6) West with the Night by Beryl Markham

5) AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller

4) The Man Who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher

3) Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

2) Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed

1) A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

The Additional 417 Books Appearing on a Single List

The 26 “Best Hiking Book” Lists Consulted

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