Every outdoor adventurer has that one book, maybe two, that kick-started their passion and desire for exploration. Maybe it was something by one of the usual suspects, like Laurie Lee, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Dervla Murphy or Jack Kerouac, or maybe it was something more recent.
We’ve certainly been spoilt in the last five years or so with the amount of good outdoor and adventure books out there. A host of great authors have popped up, from the wild adventurers like Alastair Humphreys and Anna McNuff to the philosophers like Robert Macfarlane and Robert Moor. It seems to be a real burgeoning field, and we’re super glad that it is.
And they keep on coming. We’ve pulled together a list of some of our favourite releases from the last year or so, the outdoor books that we think would make excellent gifts for a family member or friend. Who knows, one of these might inspire them to undertake their own epic adventure – and perhaps to write about it as well. So without further ado, here are our favourite outdoor and adventure books for 2023…
Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks
By Nirmal Purja
“In the death zone, I came alive” writes Nirmal Purja, Nepal-born British-special-forces-Navy-officer-turned-superhuman-mountaineer. This book recounts Purja’s frankly insane stint of summiting the 14 “death zone” alpine peaks, aptly named for their extremely harsh, inevitably fatal conditions. The last guy to take on every single 8,000+ meter mountain on the planet took almost eight years to complete the challenge. That was the world record until Purja rocked up without much climbing experience and casually smashed the record to smithereens, summiting the deadly peaks in less than seven months. His account of the adventure is epic and full of tense situations from which his narrow escapes leave the reader pumping a fist in the air and waking up their partner in bed. Purja’s story has also been adapted into a Netflix Documentary.
Wanderers: A History Of Women Walking
By Kerri Andrews
A keen hill-walker and member of Mountaineering Scotland, Kerri Andrews is a lecturer and bona fide expert on women’s writing. With her debut book, however, she’s married her two passions together in the form of an exploration on ten women writers who, over the past three hundred years, have found walking essential to their practise and their sense of selves.
Including portraits and analyses of writers such as Elizabeth Carter, Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed, this book offers a much-needed telling of women writers walking throughout history. With insights into Kerri’s own relationship with walking as well as her relationships with the writers themselves, this one’s a fascinating and insightful read.
Riding Out: A Journey Of Love, Loss And New Beginnings
By Simon Parker
‘Riding Out’ details travel journalist Simon Parker’s journey cycling 3427 miles around Britain after the loss of a close friend due to the pandemic. Whilst providing an honest portrait of the UK in a time of crisis, Parker also captures the healing spirit of long-distance adventures, the interesting characters one meets along the way, and the naturally glorious wonders of the British Isles.
Setting out from the northernmost point of Shetland with only a bike, a sleeping bag and stove; Parker takes you on a journey through the Scillies, Dover, the Scottish Highlands and beyond. If you like bikepacking or long-distance backpacking; you’re really gonna love this.
The Ship Beneath The Ice: The Discovery Of Shackleton’s Endurance
By Mensun Bound
Written by the Director of Exploration on the expeditions, ‘The Ship Beneath The Ice’ is the remarkable story of how, over a century after it disappeared under the Antarctic ice, Ernest Shackleton’s ship was discovered in 2022.Whilst detailing the extraordinary journey Shackleton and the Endurance ship went on in 1914, Bound also captures the drama and intensity of the 2022 expeditions, including how they found it in what Shackleton called ‘the most hostile sea on Earth’.
The Book of Trespass: Crossing The Lines That Divide Us
By Nick Hayes
Beginning with an enthralling account of the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, Nick Hayes takes us on a journey up and over fields, hills and private lands, investigating the vast chunks of land unavailable to the general public (even in 2022). While a passionate argument for the case of social inequality and its relationship to the uneven distribution of land, ‘The Book Of Trespass’ also contains beautiful passages about the UK’s great outdoor spaces, including how freeing it feels to walk across them. Hayes interweaves his strolls on private lands with fascinating tales throughout history in, what culminates in, a powerful case for change. All in all; a relevant and revealing read.
