Posted: 12/17/2019 | December 17th, 2019
Another year is nearly over, which indicates it’s again time for my annual best books of the year list! This year, I sort of fell off the book-reading wagon. writing my own book, moving to Paris and then Austin, and running a conference was exhausting and, by the end of the day, I was typically too worn out to read.
But, while Netflix typically whisked me away to dreamland, I did manage to read a lot of terrific books this year. It may not have been as lots of as I would have liked but one can still not be mad at averaging two books a month.
So, as we come to end of 2019, here are my favorite travel and non-travel books I think you must pick up to consume:
Ten Years a Nomad, by me!
This is my new(ish) book!!! Unlike my previous books, this is not a “how to” guide but a collection of insights and stories from the road. It’s a memoir of my ten years backpacking the world and the lessons I learned along the way. This book gets to the heart of wanderlust and what extended travel can show us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world. It’s available as an audiobook too!
I think it makes for the best Christmas gift and it would indicate a lot if you picked it up! gift it to a friend! Leave it in hostels! Čokoľvek chceš! get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
River Town, by Peter Hessler
This book is about American writer and journalist Peter Hessler’s time living in Fuling, China, in the 1990s as one of the first peace Corp volunteers allowed into the country. I loved his book Oracle Bones, so I was ecstatic to read this one. While I don’t think it’s as good, it’s nevertheless an insightful, fascinating, well-written account of what living as an expat during a time of terrific change was like.
Buy on Amazon | get on Bookshop
Lands of lost Borders, by Kate Harris
I read this ideal after I handed in the final draft of my book and was blown away by Kate Harris’s magical prose. Kate writes the way I would love to be gifted enough to write. The book follows her journey cycling the Silk road from Turkey to Tibet and is filled with brilliant descriptions of the people and places she encountered. It’s one of the best books I read all year. get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
The Joys of Travel, by Thomas Swick
Thomas Swick has been a travel writer and editor for decades and is one of the giants in the industry (it’s been fun to get to know him over the years; I only regret not finding his work sooner). The book is a quick but thoughtful read on the emotions we feel as travelers and is filled with charming stories from his time living abroad in Poland and how mass communication has changed travel. It’s a book that will definitely inspire you to see more. get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
Here Lies America, by Jason Cochran
This book examines death tourism in America and the forgotten history that comes along with it. My pal Jason Cochran spent time roaming the country exploring the secret past of America’s greatest memorials through the lens of his family’s history. It’s an appealing and absorbing look at the history of the us (I learned a lot I didn’t know) and how we remember our history (and what we choose to forget). get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
The Atlas of Happiness, by Helen Russell
Written by best-selling author Helen Russell (who also wrote the fantastic and entertaining book The Year of Living Danishly), this book examines what makes certain cultures delighted and others not. (In lots of ways, it’s like The geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.) The book’s writing style makes it an easy read that will give you ideas and insight you can carry out in your own life. get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
Stillness Is the Key, by Ryan Holiday
Written by best-selling author and modern-day philosopher Ryan Holiday, this book is a short and easy (but insightful) read about the need for stillness in your life. In this fast-paced world, we forget that slowing down can supply us with calmness, thoughtfulness, and help us lead a happier life. As someone who has gone through a lot of change this year, I found a lot of wisdom in the book. It’s his best writing to date. get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker
As an insomniac, I was hoping this book would help me learn how to sleep better. It didn’t. but what it did do was show me just how crucial sleep really is and why I need to try to get a lot a lot more of it. “Sleep when you’re dead” is a common phrase, but reading this taught me that if I don’t try to sleep more, I’ll be dead quicker. get on Amazon | get on Bookshop
Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
Without giving too much away, this sci-fi book by Blake Crouch revolves around the idea of an limitless multiverse where every possible outcome of a decision plays out — and each decision thereafter creates another split, and so forth and so forth. It made me really think about regret and the deciSions, ktorý robíme v našich životoch spôsobom, o ktorom som nikdy predtým nepremýšľal. Nemohol som knihu odložiť a zistil, že je hlboko pôsobivou knihou. Zmenilo sa to, ako vnímam ľútosť. Get On Amazon | dostať na kníhkupectvo
Chyby boli urobené (ale nie ja), Carol Tavris
Viem, že na tomto zozname sa píšem o mnohých knihách, ale toto je to najlepšie, čo som čítal celý rok, jeden, ktorý ma prinútil pozerať sa na ľudí inak. Ťažko hovoríme: „Mýlil som sa“ (aj keď som predstavil fakty, ktoré ukazujú, že 100% sme sa mýlili). Táto kniha sa ponorí, prečo ľudia zdvojnásobia nepravdivé informácie. Vo veku „falošných správ“ to bol očarujúci pohľad na to, ako ľudia minimalizujú kognitívnu disonanciu. Každý si musí prečítať túto knihu! Get On Amazon | dostať na kníhkupectvo
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Takže tam to máš! Moje obľúbené knihy z roku 2019. Prial by som si, aby bol zoznam dlhší, takže by som mohol povedať, že som si nechal svoj sľub prečítať viac, ale všetko, čo môžete urobiť, je vyzdvihnúť a pokračovať! Na konferenčnom stolíku mám hromadu kníh, ktoré prechádzam rýchlejšie, teraz, keď som doma viac.
Bez ohľadu na to, ak sa snažíte nájsť nejaké dobré knihy v tejto sviatočnej sezóne, vyberte si jednu z nich (najmä moje, pretože, hej, buďme skutoční, ocenil by som podporu!).
Ak máte nejaké nápady, čo si môžete prečítať, nechajte ich v komentároch.
Ak by ste chceli vidieť niektoré z ďalších kníh, ktoré som odporučil (alebo momentálne čítam), pozrite si túto stránku, ktorú som vytvoril na Amazone, ktorá ich všetky uvádza!
Chcete, aby si prečítali nejaké mimoriadne knihy?
Pripojte sa k môjmu mesačnému knižnému klubu a získajte zoznam 3-5 fantastických kníh, ktoré by ste mali každý mesiac zasielať čas!
Meno: Pošlite mi úžasné knihy na čítanie
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