The Best Travel Books of All Time: The World Hum Top 30
Travel Blog • Frank Bures • 05.01.06 | 11:45 PM ET
This month marks World Hum’s five-year anniversary. Whew. Even we can’t believe we’ve made it this far. To celebrate, we asked some of our favorite writers and contributors to help us come up with the top literary travel books of all time—the kind of books that transcend travelogues, that inspire distant wanderings, that change lives. Each day this month, we’ll be counting down our picks, starting with No. 30 tomorrow, and ending with the best travel book of all time on May 31. Look for contributions from yours truly, Thomas Swick, Michael Shapiro, Tom Bissell, Rolf Potts, Terry Ward, Michael Yessis and Jim Benning.
—Frank Bures is the books editor of World Hum.
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elizabeth 05.02.06 | 4:22 AM ET
i DO hope that H.V. MORTON appears .... as probably the most influential travel writer…
Bart de Graaf 05.02.06 | 4:55 PM ET
Very interesting Idea! Will be loking forward for next entries!
Larry Habegger 05.02.06 | 11:22 PM ET
You should have asked the editors of Travelers’ Tales (James O’Reilly, Larry Habegger [whoops, that’s me!], Sean O’Reilly). As editors and publishers of more than 80 travel books, some of them works of classic travel literature that had gone out of print, we would have had valuable input to add to the pot.
You do have one of our books in the photo that goes with this post (Travelers’ Tales Thailand) and that’s great, thanks.
lizzie 05.02.06 | 11:53 PM ET
i don’t know many travel writers and would love to read more travel stories. Will definitely return here to find out more! So far I have only read Bill bryson and I am guessing he’s not in the top 30?
Nice site. very entertaining too. Please take the time to visit my blog about budget travel - http://budget—-travel.blogspot.com/
Jim 05.04.06 | 12:46 PM ET
Please do enjoy our list. When we wrap it up, we’ll create a form to discuss our choices. We’d love to get all your input.
And Larry, good hearing from you. We’ll find a way to get your picks up on the site, too.
Harry Bucknall 05.09.06 | 5:23 PM ET
I hope you will be able to take a look at, and enjoy, my blog as I travel the Greek Islands, starting from Venice on 15th May. Taking in some 40 plus of Greece’s 1,425 islands over the next 6 months I promise you a vibrant and informative journey along the way. I am travelling mainly by sea throughout, to capture some of the romance of a more leisurely means of travel in today’s unremitting age of the airliner, to examine what the Greek Islands are like today and to go in search of the perfect island. Does it still exist, I wonder?!
Harry Bucknall 05.09.06 | 5:27 PM ET
TRAVELS IN THE DOLPHIN’S WAKE:
A JOURNEY ROUND THE GREEK ISLANDS
http://travelsinthedolphinswake.blogspot.com
Sam Jones 06.05.06 | 10:20 PM ET
No Greene? Try “Journey Without Maps”, or “The Lawless Roads.”
Laurie May 06.16.06 | 4:28 PM ET
I was wondering if any of the top 30 travel books was written by a woman. I do not know a lot of author names, so I am not sure. But even Evelyn Waugh was a male, right? I was quickly scanning the list looking for a travel book by a woman, but I can’t find one. Are the contributors (all males ?) biased, or is it just a fluke, or are women writers well represented, and I just don’t know their names?
Troy 10.05.08 | 2:20 PM ET
While I’m not sure it’s a “travel book” per say, I have really enjoyed Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s, “Travels with a Tangerine.” It’s a wonderfully insightful book, traveling through a very misunderstood region of the world, seeing the eyes through someone who speaks the language and has empathy for its people.