Key Takeaways
- There’s nothing more inspirational than a well-written travel book. It can fill you with awe, wonder, and wanderlust. Books make those 10-hour bus rid
- I’ve always been a voracious reader, but I go through fits and starts. I’ll read a book or two a week and then won’t pick up another for months. This
- As we make our way through the new year (where did January go?), I wanted to share some of my favorite recent reads. These books will inspire, teach,
There’s nothing more inspirational than a well-written travel book. It can fill you with awe, wonder, and wanderlust. Books make those 10-hour bus rides through Laos more bearable. They get us excited about new destinations and can change our worldview.
I’ve always been a voracious reader, but I go through fits and starts. I’ll read a book or two a week and then won’t pick up another for months. This year I want to be more consistent. My goal this year is to read one book a week (if not more).
As we make our way through the new year (where did January go?), I wanted to share some of my favorite recent reads. These books will inspire, teach, and maybe change your habits. So without further ado, the books:
Marching Powder, by Rusty Young & Thomas McFadden
This book tells the true story of Thomas McFadden and his time in Bolivia’s San Pedro prison. McFadden was an English drug trafficker who ended up in jail after an official he was bribing double-crossed him. In the book, you learn about life in a prison where inmates bought their own cells (which created a huge class system) and made their own drugs (to be sold on the streets). McFadden also started leading tours through the prison during his incarceration to backpackers (you could even stay overnight for a price)!
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Before Anthony Bourdain roamed the world without reservations or to places unknown, he was a chef clawing his way through the kitchens of New York City. This book (his first) is a very well written insider’s account of the restaurant industry. True to form, Bourdain is crass and vulgar, and he doesn’t hold anything back. You learn about the drug use in kitchens, the fast pace and dog-eat-dog world of the restaurant business, staff loyalty to chefs (kitchen staff follow the chefs they like), and why there are some foods you should just never order.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg
While this book has nothing to do with travel, it is a wonderfully researched account of how we form habits. Why do we do what we do? Are we hard-wired to repeat habits, even when they are bad? How do we break bad habits and form good ones? This best-selling book discusses how we form habits and gives specific strategies about how to break bad habits and start good ones. This book definitely made me rethink many of my habits and is part of the reason why I decided to read more books.
Choose Yourself!, by James Altucher
I became friends with James Altucher a few years ago at a mastermind conference. His book is about how the new economy has made it easier for people to become their own bosses and put their happiness first. The old economy is rigged; companies treat workers poorly and provide very little opportunity for financial independence. From tips on starting your own business to advice to just figuring out what makes you happy and doing more of that, Choose Yourself is an uplifting book full of practical resources.
Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams
This book recounts Adams’s tale of roughing it through Peru in search of little-visited Inca ruins and ancient cities with a surly Indiana Jones-type Australian guide. While most tourists stick to Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, Adams goes everywhere else, tracing the Incas’ flight into the Andes Mountains after the Spanish invaded their empire. In a country filled with Inca ruins, many are still unexcavated and have few tourists. It’s one of the best-written tales I read last year and opened me up to a whole new understanding of the Incas.
Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure, by Sarah Macdonald
Journalist Sarah MacDonald was grieving the loss of her father when she set off on a journey across India — not as a tourist, but as a seeker. Her quest to understand faith, death, and identity takes her from ashrams to festivals, temples to slums, all while navigating cultural misunderstandings, spiritual paradoxes, and her own emotional unraveling. Witty, raw, and deeply empathetic, this memoir offers a refreshingly honest portrait of India beyond cliché — and proves how travel can be both pilgrimage and therapy.
