The outdoor genre is full of fantastic adventure books. From survival stories to technical manuals, each subcategory has hundreds of books to choose from. In this guide we choose the very best books from six very different categories. Whether you’re looking to learn a new skill or just want a gripping story, we’ve got you covered.
6 Must Read Adventure Books:
The Best Tale of Self-Discovery
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild is a modern classic in the adventure books genre for anyone who dreams of being self-reliant and free from consumer America. While Krakauer’s Into Thin Air—with its indictment of the commercialization of mountaineering and gripping story of survival—is arguably his more influential book, Into the Wild is more accessible and relatable, as the yearning to “find oneself” through nature is something that many people recognize in themselves. Into the Wild’s protagonist, Chris McCandless, lives out that desire to a radical, even foolish degree.
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McCandless’ story fascinates us because we want to understand why: why would a smart, college-educated young man from a well-to-do family abandon his life of privilege for one of austerity, discomfort, and escape? As McCandless wrote in his journal: “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
But for its tragic ending, McCandless’ story may have just been another in a long line of self-discovery tales. Yet he draws the reader in because of the fanaticism of his ideals, fanaticism which most likely led to his death. We can’t help but be drawn to someone with that level of intense passion for a single idea—his story is at once a cautionary tale and deeply resonant with everyone who seeks self-reliance, joy, and freedom.
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The Best Technical Climbing Skills Manual
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills 9th ed.
Will Gadd, famous ice and mixed climber, once said, “If the mountains are my church, then Freedom is my bible.” With over 1 million copies sold, Mountaineering is the all-time bestselling mountaineering and climbing book. Freedom has inspired generations of climbers and mountaineers since its first print in 1960. Names like Conrad Anker, Dean Potter, Dave Hahn, and Jim Whitaker all cite this book as instrumental to their development as climbers.
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The latest edition was compiled by The Mountaineers of Seattle, WA, and includes collaboration with the American Alpine Club (AAC), the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), the Access Fund, and the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). Topics range from basics like clothing, equipment, navigation, and belaying to more advance topics like alpine rescue, mountain weather, and expedition climbing. Novices and experienced climbers alike can learn from Freedom—there’s no doubt that this is the definitive text for all things related to mountain travel and an obvious choice for our adventure books list.
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The Best Book on How to Survive
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales
“Who Lives. Who Dies. And Why.” So begins Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales’s culmination of more than 35 years of studying accidents. He combines gripping stories of survival with scientific research in a way that’s both compelling and approachable.
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The book begins with Gonzales describing his father’s experience in WWII as a fighter pilot—his plane was shot down, yet he survived, the only member of his crew that survived. This was the story that originally compelled Gonzales to write the book:
“That [my father] had lived while so many others had died seemed to me to have so much meaning. I heard the stories over and over and could never seem to plumb their mystery. His survival made me believe that he had some special, ineffable quality. I felt urgently that I ought to have it, too.”
Gonzales’ examples, scientific research, and conclusions apply not only to wilderness survival but to surviving any life-altering event. He considers the similarities between different types of survival situations and discovers the critical components that made the difference between life and death. Surprisingly, it’s not training, experience, or knowledge. The ultimate lesson is that “it’s not what’s in your pack that separates the quick from the dead. It’s not even what’s in your mind. Corny as it sounds, it’s what’s in your heart.”
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The Best Backpacking Guide
The Backpacker’s Field Manual by Rick Curtis
The Backpacker’s Field Manual is written by Rick Curtis, the director of the Outdoor Action program at Princeton University. The first version was just a short manual written by Curtis for his trip leaders at Princeton. By 1998 it had grown in size and he decided to compile a book-length version and publish it. Curtis demonstrates the depth of his experience on every page; from trip planning, equipment, and backcountry cooking, to first aid, navigation, and weather, the Field Manual covers it all in expert detail. These days, outdoor schools and programs across the country use this book as their main textbook.
But what makes it truly special among adventure books is how it integrates lessons about outdoor leadership and wilderness conservation, making it a worthy read for beginners and veterans alike. Devoting a chapter each to these ideas, the Field Manual teaches real stewardship of the natural world—a way of interacting with the outdoors that’s thoughtful, safe, and ultimately fulfilling.
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The Best Survival Story
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
While descending the previously unclimbed Siula Grande (6,344 metres), Simon Yates found himself in an impossible situation. His partner, Joe Simpson, had broken his leg and Yates was having to lower him 3,000 metres to a glacier. With the weather worsening and darkness approaching, Simpson was inadvertently lowered over a cliff without enough rope, and he was left dangling in space. Unable to communicate and connected to a snow anchor that was slowly failing, Yates had to make a choice: do nothing and wait until they both fell to their deaths, or cut the rope, killing his friend but possibly saving himself. What unfolds is two incredible stories of survival over the next three days.
Touching the Void is a moving testimony to the persistence of the human spirit. Against overwhelming odds, Simpson and Yates endured pain and suffering to a degree most can only imagine. Simpson crawled five miles through the snow for three days without food or water, despite his broken leg, making it back to base camp within a few hours of when Yates planned to leave. Among mountaineers Simpson’s ordeal is regarded as one of the most amazing survival stories ever, a testament to the unshakable will to survive. A classic choice for our 6 adventure books list.
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The Best Contemplation of Man’s Relationship to Nature
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” In the spirit of Thoreau’s Walden, Desert Solitaire is based on Edward Abbey’s time as a park ranger in the southwest in the 1950’s, and is now recognized as an important early work in the environmentalism movement. In early chapters Abbey describes his daily life; events like searching for a wild horse, finding a dead tourist, or riding a boat down Glen Canyon. In later chapters he focuses on the damaging impact humans have on the area, and criticizes the National Parks Service’s vision for public lands. Near the end Abbey becomes more introspective, trying to describe his own philosophy of nature and its effect on the human spirit.
Abbey’s rebellious, even callous viewpoint resonates with those unhappy with modern life:
“My God! I am thinking, what incredible shit we put up with most of our lives – the domestic routine (same old wife every night), the stupid and useless degrading jobs, the insufferable arrogance of elected officials, the crafty cheating and the slimy advertising of the business men, the tedious wars in which we kill our buddies instead of our real enemies back in the capital, the foul diseased and hideous cities and towns we live in, the constant petty tyranny of automatic washers and automobiles and TV machines and telephone!”
And yet he struggles to find humanity a proper place in the natural environment:
“I am almost prepared to believe that this sweet virginal primitive land would be grateful for my departure and the absence of the tourist, will breath metaphorically a collective sigh of relief – like a whisper of wind – when we are all and finally gone and the place and its creations can return to their ancient procedures unobserved and undisturbed by the busy, anxious, brooding consciousness of man.”
Ultimately, Desert Solitaire is a paean to the importance of the wilderness in tension with environmental conservation. Abbey is the voice in the desert that challenges us to wrestle with our place in this world. Don’t miss this one, number six on our adventure books list.
What classic adventure books did we skip? Let us know in the comments!
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