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40 Best Adventure Books of All Time


Our goal: Build the most accurate list of best Adventure books.

How we picked these:
1. Search for "best Adventure books" and study the top 5 articles.
2. Add only the top books (mentioned 2+ times).
3. Rank the results neatly for you here! 😊
(This process takes a long time, but we do the research so you don't have to!)

(Updated 2022)

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  1. Home
  2. Lists
  3. Best Adventure Books
  1. 1
    i

    Into Thin Air

    A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

    Jon Krakauer

    Appears in 5 articles
    1 recommender
  2. 2
    i

    Wild

    From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

    Cheryl Strayed

    Appears in 4 articles
    5 recommenders
  3. 3
    i

    Into the Wild

    Jon Krakauer

    Appears in 4 articles
    1 recommender
  4. 4
    i

    Moby Dick

    Herman Melville

    Appears in 4 articles
    5 recommenders
  5. 5
    i

    A Cook's Tour

    Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

    Anthony Bourdain

    Appears in 4 articles
    1 recommender
  6. 6
    i

    In the Heart of the Sea

    The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

    Nathaniel Philbrick

    Appears in 4 articles
    1 recommender
  7. 7
    i

    A Walk in the Woods

    Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

    Bill Bryson

    Appears in 3 articles
    1 recommender
  8. 8
    i

    Travels with Charley

    In Search of America

    John Steinbeck

    Appears in 3 articles
    3 recommenders
  9. 9
    i

    A Voyage for Madmen

    Peter Nichols

    Appears in 3 articles
  10. 10
    i

    Touching the Void

    Joe Simpson

    Appears in 3 articles
  11. 11
    i

    Around the World in Eighty Days

    Jules Verne

    Appears in 3 articles
  12. 12
    i

    The Worst Journey in the World

    Apsley Cherry-Garrard

    Appears in 3 articles
  13. 13
    i

    The Martian

    A Novel

    Andy Weir

    Appears in 2 articles
    7 recommenders
  14. 14
    i

    Lord of the Flies

    William Golding

    Appears in 2 articles
    3 recommenders
  15. 15
    i

    Hatchet

    Gary Paulsen

    Appears in 2 articles
  16. 16
    i

    Life of Pi

    Yann Martel

    Appears in 2 articles
    1 recommender
  17. 17
    i

    The Call of the Wild

    Jack London

    Appears in 2 articles
  18. 18
    i

    Treasure Island

    Robert Louis Stevenson

    Appears in 2 articles
    1 recommender
  19. 19
    i

    The Odyssey

    Homer

    Appears in 2 articles
    6 recommenders
  20. 20
    i

    In a Sunburned Country

    Bill Bryson

    Appears in 2 articles
  21. 21
    i

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Mark Twain

    Appears in 2 articles
    4 recommenders
  22. 22
    i

    Desert Solitaire

    A Season in the Wilderness

    Edward Abbey

    Appears in 2 articles
    1 recommender
  23. 23
    i

    The Right Stuff

    Tom Wolfe

    Appears in 2 articles
    3 recommenders
  24. 24
    i

    Swiss Family Robinson

    Johann David Wyss

    Appears in 2 articles
  25. 25
    i

    The Motorcycle Diaries

    Notes on a Latin American Journey

    Ernesto Che Guevara

    Appears in 2 articles
  26. 26
    i

    Heart of Darkness

    Joseph Conrad

    Appears in 2 articles
  27. 27
    i

    Gulliver's Travels

    Jonathan Swift

    Appears in 2 articles
    5 recommenders
  28. 28
    i

    Wind, Sand and Stars

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    Appears in 2 articles
    3 recommenders
  29. 29
    i

    Alone on the Ice

    The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

    David Roberts

    Appears in 2 articles
  30. 30
    i

    The Wave

    In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean

    Susan Casey

    Appears in 2 articles
  31. 31
    i

    Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    Appears in 2 articles
    3 recommenders
  32. 32
    i

    Travels In Siberia

    Ian Frazier

    Appears in 2 articles
  33. 33
    i

    Pass the Butterworms

    Remote Journeys Oddly Rendered

    Tim Cahill

    Appears in 2 articles
  34. 34
    i

    The Sea Runners

    Ivan Doig

    Appears in 2 articles
  35. 35
    i

    Into the Heart of Borneo

    Redmond O'Hanlon

    Appears in 2 articles
  36. 36
    i

    A Sense of Direction

    Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful

    Gideon Lewis-Kraus

    Appears in 2 articles
  37. MOST RECOMMENDED!
    37
    i

    Endurance

    Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

    Alfred Lansing

    Appears in 2 articles
    10 recommenders
  38. 38
    i

    King Solomon's Mines

    H. Rider Haggard

    Appears in 2 articles
  39. 39
    i

    Robinson Crusoe

    Daniel Defoe

    Appears in 2 articles
  40. 40
    i

    The Hobbit

    The Lord of the Rings, Book 1

    J. R. R. Tolkien

    Appears in 2 articles
    2 recommenders

FAQ

  • How was this list created?

    We searched for "best Adventure books", found the top 5 articles, took every book mentioned in 2+ articles, and averaged their rankings.

  • How many books are in this list?

    There are 40 books in this list.

  • Why did you create this list?

    We wanted to gather the most accurate list of Adventure books on the internet.

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