Wanderlust Words: Travel Audiobooks for Your Next Adventure

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better-equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the difference?

Examining such stories of miraculous endurance and tragic death—how people get into trouble and how they get out again (or not)—Deep Survival takes us from the tops of snowy mountains and the depths of oceans to the workings of the brain that control our behavior. Through close analysis of case studies, Laurence Gonzales describes the “stages of survival” and reveals the essence of a survivor—truths that apply not only to surviving in the wild but also to surviving life-threatening illness, relationships, the death of a loved one, running a business during uncertain times, and even war. In the end, he finds, it is what’s in your heart, not what’s in your pack, that separates the living from the dead.

Fascinating and absolutely essential for anyone who hikes in the woods, this book will change the way we understand ourselves and the great outdoors.

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. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top.  No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated. Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world.  A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott.

A transformational journey through Italy, India, and Bali searching for pleasure and devotion—the massive bestseller from the author of The Signature of All Things

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself...

"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama wandering of human yearning."--The New York Times

"A narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping stuff."--The Washington Post

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).

The Tarahumara Indians are, quite literally, Born to Run. Living in isolation in Mexico's treacherous Copper Canyons, the Tarahumara tribe has discovered secrets which enable them to run for hundreds of miles without stopping to rest. As they travel these incredible distances, they are able to maintain high levels of speed, without being subject to the injuries which seem to so easily plague most American runners. Through studying the habits of the members of this tribe, Christopher McDougall has made discoveries which may reveal the secret to their endurance, and that secret flies in the face of everything modern science has told us about how to prevent running-related injuries.

McDougall advances a hypothesis in regard to human evolution called the endurance running hypothesis. This is the idea that humans were able to transition from the forests to the savannas by developing the ability to literally run down their prey by means of being able to go faster and longer than the animals they were hunting. He blames human attempts to improve upon our inherited ability with things like cushioned running shoes, pointing out that the Tarahumara wear only flat sandals. Anecdotal evidence (McDougall claims to have reduced his own injuries by copying the methods of the Tarahumara) coupled with scientific research, bear out McDougall's industry-defying claims, all shared in a quirky and clever way which is sure to keep you engaged.

Christopher McDougall is an American author and journalist, who found critical acclaim in 2009 with Born to Run. A graduate of Harvard, McDougall spent several years working for the Associated Press as a foreign correspondent, covering civil wars in Rwanda and Angola. A film based on the bestselling Born to Run is currently in production.

Lyrical, perceptive, and surprising, it’s an indispensable portrait of our national identity.

Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, sixty-seven-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, atop Maine's Mount Katahdin, she sang the first verse of "America, the Beautiful" and proclaimed, "I said I'll do it, and I've done it."

Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance and very likely saved the trail from extinction.

Cheryl Strayed was 26 years old when she made the rash and life-changing decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave desert to Washington State—1180 miles—alone. The year was 1995; she had just lost her mother to cancer and her marriage had collapsed. Her memoir of the trip, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, was published 17 years later in 2012 and quickly rose to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, where it stayed at number one for seven weeks.

What makes Strayed's audiobook story even more fascinating is that she had never heard of the Pacific Crest Trail until she happened to run across a trail guide at her local book store in Minnesota, and she had virtually no hiking experience.

Immediately upon setting out on the trail, Strayed discovered her hiking boots did not fit properly. Far from civilization—and a shoe store—she continued her journey in excruciating and unrelenting pain until she had lost all of her toenails.

One aspect of this book which makes Wild unique among adventure chronicles is how Strayed narrates her story on two levels simultaneously: it's a tale of both physical and emotional suffering, and physical and emotional courage. Strayed encounters bears, rattlesnakes, record snowfalls and blistering heat over the course of her hike. She also faces—for the first time—the depths of her grief and her fears of the profound aloneness she faced on a daily basis.

In addition to Wild, Strayed has published two other books, the novel "Torch" and "Tiny Beautiful Things", a compilation of her popular advice columns written as "Dear Sugar" on the website rumpus.net. All of Strayed's titles are available as audiobooks. She has also published a number of personal essays that have appeared in The Washington Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine and Vogue. Her essays have twice been selected for inclusion in The Best American Essays.

What do a trip on a luxury cruise ship, a tennis tournament in Canada and the Illinois State Fair have in common? They are all part of David Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments."

While almost anyone other than a thick-lensed wearer of reading glasses wouldn't think twice about passing on a book with "essays and arguments" as its subtitle, many people have discovered that articles by David Foster Wallace are as humorous and entertaining as any comedic work out there.

In this audiobook, Wallace pulls together seven topics, including the films of David Lynch and postmodern literary theory to provide a rip-roaring ride of his own. Wallace fans used to his delightful works of fiction will not be disappointed in what he refers to as "essays and arguments" as he recalls events and fun-filled days he does not wish to repeat.

Fans are fond of Wallace's intense intellect as well as the way he combines his observations with a stark humor that takes jabs at revelers eating funnel cake and hot dogs at the Illinois State Fair as well as travelers getting away from it all by climbing aboard a ship for a week-long Caribbean cruise.

Entertainment Weekly has listed "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments" as one of its 100-best books written between 1983 and 2008. Not only are the pieces themselves cleverly written, but Wallace brings comedy to even the footnotes scattered throughout the book.

Listeners to Wallace will, in addition to being entertained, add to their vocabulary without even trying. He's that good.

David Foster Wallace is an American writer. Born in New York in 1962, he hails from a journalism background. He attended Amherst College and the University of Arizona and is well-known for his articles, short stories and novels. Wallace died in 2008.

Wallace is best known for his 1200-page novel, Infinite Jest, published in 1996.

The #1 New York Times Bestseller - Now a Major Motion Picture starring Charlie Hunnam, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller.  In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless people perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called "The Lost City of Z." In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett's quest for "Z" and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Look for David Grann’s new book, Killers of the Flower Moon, available now.

Read by the author

Nine CDs, 10 hours

Just in time for the 2000 Olympics-the bestselling quthor of A Walk in the Woods takes listeners on a truly outrageous tour Down Under.

Compared to his Australian excursions, Bill Bryson had it easy on the Appalachian Trail.  Nonetheless, Bryson has on several occasions embarked on seemingly endless flights bound for a land where Little Debbies are scarce but insects are abundant (up to 220,000 species of them), not to mention crocodiles.

Taking listeners on a rollicking ride far beyond packaged-tour routes, IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY introduces a place where interesting things happen all the time.  Leaving no Vegemite unsavored, listeners will accompany Bryson as he dodges jellyfish while learning to surf at Bondi Beach, discovers a fish that can climb trees, dehydrates in deserts where temperatures leap to 140 degrees F, and tells the true story of the rejected Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House.