Bob Shacochis, writer
Equator: A Journey, by Thurston Clarke (1988)
I'll read anything by Edward Hoagland, Barry Lopez, and Peter Matthiessen. But Clarke's Equator stands out as something by an extraordinary writer who is generally overlooked. The premise—circle the globe, following the equator—is inspired, original, and infinitely more challenging than you might imagine. Clarke's writing is consistently all of the above and more. The man is as intrepid as Redmond O'Hanlon, and his insights, like his spellbinding narratives and the ever-rich quality of his prose, are unforgettable.
Conrad Anker, mountaineer
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (2006)
A climber befriends the people of the Karakoram and turns the friendship into something positive—a great humanitarian story.
Tom Bissell, writer
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy (1985)
It's the quintessential American novel: violent, beautiful (even if the beauty is often obscene), haunted by the authoritarian god of the Old Testament (embodied by the Ahab-like character known as Judge Holden), and above all completely uncanny and weird. In its depiction of cowboys and Indians locked in vicious insurgency warfare, Blood Meridian becomes almost like the Iliad of Old West America.
Steph Davis, climber
Thirteen Senses: A Memoir, by Victor Villaseñor (2001)
Intense, funny, magical, wild, spiritual, and passionate. Villaseñor says that members of Western societies who believe that we have five senses, period, have blinders on. I am always exploring my senses and my mind—it's why I'm a climber.
David Quammen, writer
Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995) and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (2002), by Janet Browne
Browne's magisterial two-volume biography of Charles Darwin has been hugely valuable and impressive to me.
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| "McCandless gave himself entirely to the wild, and it devoured him. Though it hasn't yet devoured me, I can relate to that."
—JIMMY CHIN on Into the Wild |
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Jimmy Chin, mountaineer & photographer
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer (1996)
A beautiful and tragic story. Christopher McCandless's aimlessness, fierce in-dependence, and search for solace and peace in wild places are things that I relate to. McCandless gave himself entirely to the wild, and it devoured him. Though it hasn't yet devoured me, I relate to that part, too.
Tony Hawk, skateboarder
Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (1997)
Gives you the firsthand excitement and drama (and tragedy) of the quest to summit Everest. It's the kind of book that can only be felt—no cinematic adaptation could ever do it justice.
