Travel
Last updated: March 22, 2024
The best books on Abandoned Places, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects five of the best books on abandoned places, including a cultural history of ruins, an account of natural recovery in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, plus two unsettling works of science fiction. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, is out now.
The best books on Foreign Memoirs, recommended by Jennifer Steil
The first five books in the genre, as picked by a writer, journalist and actor who wrote a memoir about running a newspaper in Yemen.
The best books on Travel in the Muslim World, recommended by Ziauddin Sardar
The Professor of Postcolonial Studies at City University, London, talks to us about Islamic travel books. Explains how travel should be both a physical and a mental exercise focussed on immersing oneself in local culture
The best books on The Nile, recommended by Dan Morrison
Journalist and author of The Black Nile, who spent six months travelling the famous river, discusses some of the turbulent times that the Nile has witnessed – and praises its extraordinary beauty.
The best books on Mexico, recommended by Hugh Thomson
Explorer, film-maker and writer, Hugh Thomson, picks the best books on Mexico, from the revolution in 1910, to the conquistadors, to gold mines, to the fatalism of Mexico and more.
The best books on The Andes, recommended by Michael Jacobs
The respected author and prominent Hispanist examines the history and people of The Andes. Selects and reviews five great reads, including classics from Isherwood and Hemming
The best books on India, Ancient and Modern, recommended by William Dalrymple
The award-winning writer selects five books on India and says that the Mahabharata, eight times the length of the Bible, is one of the great works of literature of mankind – and every bit as good as it’s made out to be
The best books on The Polar Regions, recommended by Sara Wheeler
The acclaimed author discusses the Polar Regions. She says an African In Greenland is the best book ever written on Greenland – the story of a man from Togo who went there in the 1960s
The best books on The Khyber Pass, recommended by Paddy Docherty
Historian discusses five books on one of the world’s most enigmatic and dangerous places. “The atmosphere inside the Khyber is certainly very tense. You don’t see people strutting around having a nice time”