Since I’ve left a full-time job to travel the world I’ve had a lot of time to dive into one of my favorite activities, reading! Traveling creates an ideal situation to get through that reading list with time spent on trains, planes, ferries, and waiting in airports. This my reading list, including many of my favorite authors, of the books that I’ve read while out on my adventure, and some I read before I started this grand endeavor to help inspire me to make the big lifestyle change and start traveling full time.

You’ll quickly see my areas of interest by looking at my choices for reading material. It is a pretty diverse group of books; mostly about travel, culture, self-help, economics, religion, business, politics, and adventure.

  • The Geography of Bliss
    • In this book the author explores the planet trying to find the happiest places on earth, and what makes the people in these places happy. This book satisfied both my wanderlust, and is quite educational on cultural ideas and what ingredients to add to your own life to stay happy. (Yes, money does buy some happiness, but too much money makes for an unhappy life)
  • The next three books are from one of my favorite authors and writers, Thomas Friedman. He’s very connected, and has shaped much of my world views on the economy, politics, and energy.
    • The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
      • If you are going to dive into a few Thomas Friedman books, I’d start with this one. This sets the stage for a flat world, what forces are flattening that world, and what it is like to live and do business in that now uber connected world. This is a great book if you are interested in business, politics, labor, energy, and culture.
    • Hot, Flat and Crowded
      • In a follow-up to The World is Flat this book describes how development and population growth is making a planet that is hot, flat, and very crowded.
    • That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
      • The third in a list of books I’ve read by Thomas Friedman, this book dives into how America fell behind in the game that it created, and how it can start winning that game again. This was written a few years ago, and I think that we’ve caught back up in the game.
  • The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
    • The author has made a living predicting financial and economic markets, and takes a stab at predicting the world over the next 100 years. He touches on geopolitics, economics, energy, labor, and technological trends. He wrote this a few years ago, and actually predicts a Trump-like president being elected.
  • No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones
    • This is a great perspective from a Mormon author what it is like to be a homosexual in the Mormon religion. In the book, the Mormon author explores a better stance in perspective for Mormon families with gay loved ones and friends are gay.
  • Love is Letting go of Fear
    • This one is a keeper! I’ve read it once, and I’ll be reading it again. It is a short book mainly about forgiveness and maintaining a positive outlook on life. Learn how to give the gift of love, and how that is the best way to receive the gift of love.
  • Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
    • After leaving a career of ten years to travel the world, I had to reread this book. Great story, really feels like you are traveling to Italy, India, and Indonesia with the author. If you’ve seen the movie, the book is much better and more in depth.
  •  Committed: A Love Story
    • The little-known sequel to Eat, Pray, Love this book is mainly about marriage and what it means in the modern, western world. The author explores what marriage means to her because of an immigration issue posed by her relationship with an Australian from Brazil. In addition to exploring what marriage means, it dives into testing if what we value as a modern society is really making us happier.
  • When to Rob a Bank: …And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants
    • This book is a compilation of some of the most popular Freakonomics podcasts. Before reading this book, I’d never listened to one of their podcasts, and now I listen to every episode they create. The authors explore common, and not so common issues, from an economics viewpoint. The answer of when to rob a bank, never. The potential return isn’t worth the risk and chances of getting caught. I also listen to their Freakonomics Podcast that is sent out every week.
  • The Last Lecture
    • This one will make you cry, it is a quick read, and really helps you put life into perspective. The author is a professor, and is working on his last lecture that he hopes will be a legacy for his children.
  • Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors, these are the three books of his that I’ve read, and can’t wait to read more!
    • A Short History of Nearly Everything
      • This book will make your brain hurt, in a good way. I learned more about the history of the world, solar system, galaxy, genetics, evolution, geology, plate tectonics, the theory of relativity, and on and on. I learned about as much from this book than I did in years of science and history classes. The great thing about Bill Bryson is that you can be covering super serious, sometimes boring topics, and he keeps it interesting by adding humor and interesting side stories.
    • Walk in the Woods
      • The author takes his fat, and drunk friend, on the Appalachian trail. You’ll not only explore the trail with him first hand, but the history of the trail and how it relates to the history of the United States.
    • In a Sunburned Country
      • Explore the history, landscape, and current culture of Australia with Bill Bryson. I read this on the way to the continent, and I think it is a must for anyone visiting. Even if you aren’t planning to visit Australia, this book is a great read. It’ll make you laugh, ponder, and learn things you never thought you’d ever know about Australia.
  • The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level
    • Feel like you are stuck in a box? This book teaches you how to train your brain to think of best case scenarios, and keep pushing yourself to your full potential. I read this right before I took a huge leap and left a career of ten years to travel the world. It was a great inspiration, and I still reference back to pieces of information I learned while reading this book.
  • Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
    • I read this book to and from my trip to Peru, and while I was at Machu Picchu. This is a fantastic adventure/travel/history book written by the former editor of an adventure magazine. He’d been editing a magazine about adventure for most of his adult life, and realized he’d never actually been on an adventure. He left his job, and set out to explore the area in Peru around Machu Picchu. I’m also currently reading his next book, Meet me in Atlantis.
  •  Shogun
    • I realized this was the only fiction book on my list, and it was a gift from a friend. It is a great book if you are interested in Japanese history and the earliest interactions between the Japanese and western civilization. The book follows the main character, an English sailor on a Dutch ship that crashes onto the shores of Japan. Even though it is fiction, you’ll be learning about the Japanese culture, and the early trade/exploration of East Asia by the Dutch, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

I’m always up for a good book suggestion, if you have any, send them my way! Happy travels, and happy reading.