What's on My Mountain Bookshelf? Alastair Humphreys

19th April, 2016

This has been read 4,532 times

The great outdoors has inspired some great (and not so great) writing. We've asked well-known fans of mountain literature to pick their top reads. This month it's adventurer, blogger and author Alastair Humphreys, an enthusiast of the 'micro adventure'.

What does the literature of the outdoors and adventure mean to you?

Without Outdoor and adventure literature I would not have done any of the expeditions that I have. Before I ever considered doing a big adventure, I loved reading other people's tales of their travels. Slowly by slowly I moved from loving reading about travel, to dreaming about it, to doing it, and - eventually - to writing it myself. I love books in general, well-written ones even more so. Combining a well-written tale with a whopping adventure ticks just about every box for me!

Can you remember the first mountain book that you read?

It was probably Hilary's View from the Summit. But I quickly moved away from Everest and onto Tilman, Twight and Feeding the Rat.

Any idea how many outdoor/adventure/mountain books you own?

Not enough! "Ideal number of books = n+1" where 'n' is the number you currently own.

I probably have about 500. I'm pretty ruthless with my books and only keep good ones.

Do books that you've read ever inspire your own adventures?

Absolutely! Reading Arabian Sands led directly to my own journey in the Empty Quarter Desert.

What, for you, makes a good read (in this particular genre that is)?

Sparse, evocative prose.

Lessons for Life.

A sense of the ridiculous.

Alastair Humphreys bookshelf © Alastair Humphreys

Alastair's top three reads:

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

I don't know how often I have eulogised this book. I do know that it's my favourite piece of travel writing. Young man + violin, busking and walking his way across Spain. Cheap wine, dark-eyed girls, and sleeping under the stars. The life of a happy vagabond. "it was for this I had come: to look out on a world for which I had no words; to start at the beginning, speechless and without plan, in a place that still held no memories for me."

The Gentle Art of Tramping by Stephen Graham

Dating back to 1927 this is a fabulous How-To guide to becoming a wanderer, a vagrant, a hobo.A brilliant addition to any vagabond's library. A couple of snippets for you:

The less you carry the more you will see, the less you spend the more you will experience.
In tramping you are not earning a living, but earning a happiness.

The Worst Journey in The World by Apsley Cherry Garrard

Not only beautiful writing and a vital documentary on Scott's last expedition, but also the call to arms that prodded me to get on with my own expeditions in remote places. Often cited as "the greatest ever travel book". A thoughtful, well-written, philosophical account of a bloody epic project.

"And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.
If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, "What is the use?" for we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise him a financial return within a year.
And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg."

About Alastair Humphreys

Following on from the success of Microadventures, Alastair's new book is Grand Adventures. Its aim is to help you dream big, plan quick, go explore and have the biggest adventure of your life.

Grand Adventures explores the hurdles that prevent us all having as many adventures as we would like to do. Using Alastair's experience of 15 years of adventures, plus interviews with around 100 different adventurers, Grand Adventures offers encouragement, advice and a polite kick up the backside to overcome a lack of Time or Money and life's Commitments and Relationships. It will help you choose which sort of adventure appeals to you. And then the second half of the book dissects many of the different types of journey you might choose, whether that is by Bicycle, Foot, Animal, Water, Motor, Climbing, Travelling, living in a treehouse, or something even grander such as blasting into Space.

Consider this: if you saved up £20 a week for a year, you'd have £1000 which is more than enough money to cycle all the way to Japan… Dream Big, Plan Quick, Go Explore.

Grand Adventures is available to order now on Amazon

Here's a great wee film by Alastair: