# Please recommend a nonfiction vacation book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 9, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371 "2025-06-09T14:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/41 "2025-06-10T15:53:51Z")
Anything by Mark Kurlansky! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/42 "2025-06-10T16:05:51Z")
It’s been a long time since I read _Blue Highways,_ but I remember enjoying it quite a bit. I kind of misinterpreted the OP title as 'recommend a nonfiction book _about_ a vacation, not _to read_ on a vacation, and this is what first came to mind, despite it being more ‘travel’ than ‘vacation’. But I think it fits the OP still. I like to read books about travel when I’m traveling. > **[Blue Highways](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63832.Blue_Highways)** > > Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blu… ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/43 "2025-06-10T16:24:41Z")
Hijack – the source of the White Nile is still not settled. > The [Kagera River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagera_River), which flows into Lake Victoria near the Tanzanian town of [Bukoba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukoba), is the longest feeder river for Lake Victoria, although sources do not agree on which is the longest tributary of the Kagera, and hence the most distant source of the Nile Brian ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/44 "2025-06-10T16:53:53Z")
I blame it on the rain. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/45 "2025-06-10T17:51:41Z")
> > [@Chefguy](#): > > > > > [@MacDoc](#): > > > > > > The other gripping one is **Into Thin Air.** > > > > Excellent survival book. Beck Weathers should never have been on that mountain at his age or his Lasik condition…they breed em tough in Texas. Blind, left for dead in an open tent overnight in the death zone he staggers into camp on his own and still manages to crack a joke. I was in tears as I read about the expeditions leaders conversation with wife also from the death zone. 😢 Krakauer is an incredibly evocative writer. OP will not go wrong with that read. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/46 "2025-06-10T17:54:48Z")
> [@MacDoc](#): > > Krakauer is an incredibly evocative writer. OP will not go wrong with that read. As I said upthread when the book was first mentioned, I’ve read it and everything else by Krakauer. He’s one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/47 "2025-06-10T18:07:29Z")
Ah missed that. You should enjoy David Quammen then. This thread has been useful to me as well. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/48 "2025-06-10T18:23:52Z")
Yeah, me too. Like I said, I’ve already downloaded a book based on a recommendation here, but I like to keep it going because it’s got some great ideas. Another fund book is _Motoring with Mohammed_, it’s about a guy who was moving a private yacht for the owner when he became shipwrecked off the coast of Yemen. He ended up burying a lot of his stuff including his journals and most of the book is him trying to get back to the island to retrieve it, but by this time Yemen is having a civil war. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/49 "2025-06-10T18:24:07Z")
Let me echo anything by Bill Bryson. The book I’m reading now, “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman is very enlightening about the beginning of World War One. Then as now, no lack of arrogance and stupidity among the higher ups. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/50 "2025-06-10T19:13:50Z")
> [@MacDoc](#): > > **Song of the Dodo** - the best science book ever, makes you laugh out loud while you learn a ton…at least for me. Any book by Quammen is a good choice. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/51 "2025-06-10T19:54:53Z")
_The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives_ by Adam Smyth 2024 _Longitude_ by Dava Sobel 1995 _Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea_ by Gary Kinder 1998 _The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was Named_ by John Keay 2000 _Charlatan_ by Pope Brock 2009 _Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City_ by Greg Grandin 2010 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/52 "2025-06-10T21:37:01Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > The book I’m reading now, “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman is very enlightening about the beginning of World War One. I’ve red everything by her as well. My favorite is “A Distant Mirror.” ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/53 "2025-06-11T11:13:27Z")
If you’ve already read all of Krakauer’s books then chances are you’ve already read it, but i’d recommend Touching the Void by Joe Simpson ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/54 "2025-06-11T20:29:31Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > I really enjoyed his **A Voyage Long and Strange** about America and European explorers before the Mayflower. I went ahead an ordered a copy- thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/55 "2025-06-14T00:49:12Z")
_Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization_ [sand, iron, copper, lithium, oil, and salt]. Combines science, history, mining, manufacturing, politics, culture, the present and the future, something for everyone. Very readable, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/56 "2025-06-15T02:34:00Z")
“Longitude” and “Charlatan” are great! “Longitude” is about the standardization of time zones (and other related things) and “Charlatan” is about John Brinkley, who said he was a doctor but probably wasn’t, and most likely killed who knows how many men by implanting goat testicles into their own bodies, under very unsterile conditions. Brinkley also led to border radio stations, which was a whole 'nother story altogether. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/57 "2025-06-15T02:37:25Z")
I was at dad’s and had the book with me and suddenly he was reading it and said he’d give it back after he was done. Luckily it was a reread for me so I didn’t have to suffer while I waited. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/58 "2025-06-15T19:47:48Z")
I’m generally more into fiction, but I did enjoy _Is Paris Burning?_ by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. Also, not sure it qualifies (WTF is a “nonfiction novel”?) but I also liked _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_ by John Berendt. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/59 "2025-06-15T21:48:25Z")
> [@anny\_m](#): > > (WTF is a “nonfiction novel”?) Based heavily upon real events, with details and other characters fictionalized. > **[Non-fiction novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fiction_novel)** > > The non-fiction novel is a literary genre that, broadly speaking, depicts non-fictional elements, such as real historical figures and actual events, woven together with fictitious conversations and uses the storytelling techniques of fiction.\[citation needed\] The non-fiction novel is an otherwise loosely defined and flexible genre. The genre is sometimes referred to using the slang term "faction", a portmanteau of the words fact and fiction. > The genre goes back at least as far as André Breton's ... So, a good choice- imho. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371/60 "2025-06-16T11:16:13Z")
Thanks all, I’m enjoying Hampton Sides Blood and Thunder, but we’re so frie after a day on the water, I only read a couple of pages before falling asleep. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-nonfiction-vacation-book/1019371.md?page=4)