17 Badass Adventure Books for Your Next Motocamping Trip

In the age of short form content and clickbait and brain rot, Instagram and TikTok and YouTube, we could all do with a bit of old fashioned reading. I don’t know about you, but I’m becoming increasingly worried that trawling social media is giving me a case of late-onset ADHD. Books are the antidote, requiring you to focus, imagine, and concentrate on one thing, and block out everything else. In that way, reading is a lot like riding motorcycles.

In this list, I’ll include a few motorcycle books, but I’m focusing more on pure adventure, whether it’s on two wheels, two legs, a camel, or a . Besides, after riding all day long, the last thing most of us want to do is read about more riding, right? 

And no, you won’t find Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance here. I wouldn’t necessarily say it doesn’t have value (hah), but as a reading experience, I find it equal parts ponderous and pretentious. A few years ago, I brought it as my dedicated reader on a climb of Argentina’s Aconcagua (22,837ft), the tallest mountain in the world outside of Asia. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that getting through the book was more of a slog than climbing that peak.

So here are 17 other books to take on your next motocamping adventure, books that won’t tell you how to live your life, but might show you.

1. No Picnic on Mount Kenya (1946) - Felice Benuzzi

This true story follows three Italian soldiers, imprisoned in East Africa during World War II, who escape from their POW camp to climb Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak on the African continent. Written by one of the trio, this is a bonafide page turner, both humorous and humbling, and a surefire kick in the ass to anyone who ever fooled themselves into thinking they didn’t have the resources, time, money, skill, or fitness to head into the wilderness. 

2. Jupiter's Travels (1979) - Ted Simon

In 1973, Ted Simon embarked on a four-year moto journey that would take him around the world, covering 78,000 miles and 45 countries. “Jupiter's Travels” is the captivating account of adventure, a book that has inspired countless riders to explore the globe. The narrative weaves together tales of daring challenges, cultural encounters, and profound personal reflections, and serves as a sobering reminder of how rapidly our world can change.

3. Arabian Sands (1959) - Wilfred Thesiger

In Arabian Sands, Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger—known among the Bedu Arabs with whom he spent much of his life as Mubarak bin Landan—describes his two crossings of the Rub' al Khali (“The Empty Quarter”), 250,000 square miles of desert covering the Arabian Peninsula. From quicksand and camel chases to gun fights with raiders, Thesiger’s experiences read like a real-life hybrid of Indiana Jones and James Bond.

4. A Burnt-Out Case (1960) - Graham Greene

Greene is more famous for works like The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter, but for my money, A Burnt-Out Case is his best effort. This novel follows a world-famous architect seeking isolation at a leper colony in remote Central Africa. It’s Heart of Darkness with more heart.

5. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (1958) - Eric Newby

One of the most miraculous books you’ll ever read, A Short Walk follows two bumbling “mountaineers” attempting to make the first ascent of Mir Samir (19,058ft) in a remote region of modern-day Afghanistan. They don’t make it, but that’s far from the point. This is one of those works that keeps making you mutter, “No way,” to yourself, as Newby and his companion stumble from one outlandish mishap to the next.

6. The Motorcycle Diaries (1995) - Ernesto “Che” Guevara

The Motorcycle Diaries chronicles the 1952 journey of a young Ernesto Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado across South America on a 1939 Norton 500 named “La Poderosa” (The Mighty One). Less travelog and more coming-of-age story, the book follows Guevara, a medical student, as he encounters poverty, social injustice, and indigenous struggles, which went on to radicalize him and set the stage for his later life as a Marxist revolutionary. Regardless of your political views or opinion of Guevara (if you do some digging, you’ll see he was a real asshole in many ways), the book is worth a read.

7. The Snow Leopard (1978) - Peter Matthiessen

The Snow Leopard follows Mattheissen’s two-month search for the elusive snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in the Tibetan Himalaya. A slightly more sobering work than some of the others on this list, it won two National Book Awards, and offers much exploration into ideas of enlightenment and meaningful living.

8. Roughing It (1872) - Mark Twain

Twain, the original American humorist, recounts his youthful ramblings across the western United States in this semi-autobiographical work. Roughing It is both a fascinating exploration of the 19th-century American frontier and probably the best example of Twain’s knack for narrative. He may be more famous for writing about Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but Roughing It is leagues above these, and true to boot.

9. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (1959) - Alfred Lansing

Even if you haven’t read Endurance, you certainly know the story. Twenty-eight men trapped in the Antarctic for two years, a brutal struggle for survival, and one of the most awe-inspiring examples of courage, perseverance, and leadership of all time. There was no one quite like Ernest Shackleton, and this book puts you right in the ice with him.

10. Journey Without Maps (1936) - Graham Greene

I’m loath to include the same author twice, but Greene’s work is so accessible and his catalog so vast that I figure it’s worth it. Journey Without Maps follows a young Green on a 350-mile walk through the interior of Liberia in the mid-1930s. Greene is no badass—he’s practically carried through the remote jungles by local porters and guides—but he’s a great writer, and the book gives unique insight into Liberia at the time, the interior of which was poorly known to Westerners.

11. Annapurna (1951) - Maurice Herzog

Today 8,000-meter mountaineering has become something of a commercialized circus, but 75 years ago, this couldn’t have been farther from the truth. In Annapurna, Herzog recounts the expedition he led in 1950 to climb the eponymous summit, the 10th-highest in the world, which marked the first time men stood on top of an 8,000-meter peak.

12. The Original Wild Ones (2005) - Bill Hayes & Jim Quattlebaum

This book, subtitled Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club, delves into the origins of outlaw biker culture in post-World War II America. Authors Bill Hayes, a Boozefighter, and Jim “JQ” Quattlebaum, club historian, offer a firsthand account of the infamous Hollister riot of 1947, and take you from past to present through interviews and anecdotes. If you’re interested in motorcycle history, counterculture movements, or simply a good dose of Americana (and if you could sit through The Bikeriders without cringing) you’ll find this book an entertaining read.

13. Stranger in the Forest (1988) - Eric Hansen

As the jungles of Borneo are rapidly vanishing (over 50% of the islands jungle was lost between 1973 and 2015, and slash-and-burn tactics have only ramped up in the decade since then), Eric Hansen’s account of a 2,500-mile solo trek through the heart of the island, undertaken in the 1980s, is especially poignant. When Hansen finished his journey, he famously was so taken aback by the culture shock of Western civilization, that he turned around and headed back into the jungle.

14. Neuromancer (1984) - William Gibson

The original cyberpunk novel, echoes of Neuromancer are found in everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077. The story follows a damaged hacker in a sprawling near-future dystopia who is hired for a mysterious job. Most of the tropes of the genre, from hacking ICE to the matrix, flatlining, and even the word “cyberspace,” were invented by Gibson and put to play in this book. 

Admittedly, Neuromancer is pretty uneven, and particularly in the final section of the novel he really goes off the rails and loses his edge, but the worldbuilding and razor-sharp prose makes up for it. If you enjoy Neuromancer even a little bit, Gibson gets into his groove later in the trilogy, with sequels Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, which are both much stronger works.

15. The People of the Black Circle (1934) - Robert E. Howard

Unlike the others on this list, “The People of the Black Circle” is a novella, not a full-length work. But if you haven’t read any of Robert E. Howard’s work, this quintessential Conan the Barbarian story is perhaps the best introduction. Howard is famously uneven as a writer, but when he hits the target, he blows it away, as he does here. 

Stephen King said of this story, “Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks … [the story seems to] glow with the fierce and eldritch light of his frenzied intensity.” Evil wizards, demons, subterranean temples, exotic princesses, and an insanely strong dude fighting off dozens of bad guys. What more could you ask for? A blood-pumping classic.

16. The Magus (1965) - John Fowles

No one captures love and lust like Fowles, and The Magus is his best work. I think it’s my favorite novel of all time. It’s a mindbender that defies a plot synopsis, but it includes magic and psychological torture, Nazi Germany and exotic Greek islands, explorations of both academia and occultism. You think you have The Magus figured out, then it slips out of your grasp. 

17. Proficient Motorcycling (2000) - David L. Hough

I'll close with a more cut-and-dry entry. No adventure here! Proficient Motorcycling is a practical guidebook packed with wisdom to make you a safer and more skilled rider. The book covers everything from the mental game of riding to the physics of controlling a motorcycle. You'll learn about cornering strategies, effective braking techniques, hazard avoidance, and how to maintain focus in challenging situations.

Where Should I Buy Books?

Besides your local library, I shop for all my books on ThriftBooks. You can get used books really cheap here (sometimes just $1 or $2), and their free rewards program gives you points for each book you buy, so after you spend about $50, you’ll get a book for free.

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