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Recommendations based on The Songlinesby Bruce Chatwin
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In Patagonia
by Bruce Chatwin
A journey through the far reaches of Patagonia, exploring its culture and history.
An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, ... (Goodreads)
Out of Africa
by Isak Dinesen
Memoir of a Danish author's life in Kenya, exploring nature and culture.
'Out of Africa' is Isak Dinesen's memoir of her years in Africa, from 1914 to 1931, on a four-thousand-acre coffee plantation in the hills near Nairobi. She had come to Kenya from Denmark with her ... (Goodreads)
Cider with Rosie
by Laurie Lee
A poetic account of an idyllic childhood in the English countryside.
At all times wonderfully evocative and poignant, Cider With Rosie is a charming memoir of Laurie Lee's childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a world that is tangibly real and yet reminiscent of a ... (Goodreads)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
Down and Out in Paris and London
by George Orwell
An exploration of the dark side of two cities, and how life can be different for the privileged and the destitute.
This unusual fictional memoir - in good part autobiographical - narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-outs of two great ... (Goodreads)
Wind, Sand and Stars
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A reflection on the poetic beauty and harsh realities of life as an aviator.
Recipient of the Grand Prix of the Académie Française, Wind, Sand and Stars captures the grandeur, danger, and isolation of flight. Its exciting account of air adventure, combined with lyrical prose ... (Goodreads)
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
by Alexandra Fuller
An autobiographical account of a white family in Rhodesia, struggling to survive in a war-torn land.
Alexandra Fuller's book tells the story of her family of white Zimbabwean tenant farmers in the years before and after Independence. These are not the wealthy landowners demonised by the present ... (Wikipedia)
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
by Philip Gourevitch
True story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, told through the eyes of survivors.
In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most ... (Goodreads)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens
Criticism of organized religion, arguing it is the root of much suffering in the world.
With his unique brand of erudition and wit, Hitchens describes the ways in which religion is man-made. "God did not make us," he says. "We made God." He explains the ways in which religion is ... (Goodreads)
A Tale of Love and Darkness
by Amos Oz
A tale of love, loss, and identity set against the backdrop of the tumultuous history of Israel.
Tragic, comic, and utterly honest, A Tale of Love and Darkness is at once a family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent ... (Goodreads)
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
by Edmund de Waal
A journey through time, tracing the history of a family's collection of art and their struggles with loss.
The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost ... (Goodreads)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks
A collection of case studies, illustrating extraordinary neurological phenomena.
If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the ... (Goodreads)
A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
A memoir of Hemingway's life in 1920s Paris, exploring its rich bohemian culture.
Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, ... (Goodreads)
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by David Graeber
A history of money and debt, exploring the roots of our current financial system.
Before there was money, there was debt Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul ... (Goodreads)
Ways of Seeing
by John Berger
A critical analysis of visual culture and how it shapes our perception of the world. It challenges traditional ways of seeing and encourages a new perspective.
John Berger’s Classic Text on Art John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
by Haruki Murakami
Reflections of a runner, exploring the physical and mental challenges of the sport.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such ... (Goodreads)
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
A first-hand account of the Spanish Civil War, and the political conflicts in the 1930s.
In 1936 George Orwell travelled to Spain to report on the Civil War and instead joined the fight against the Fascists. This famous account describes the war and Orwell’s own experiences. Introduction ... (Goodreads)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
by J. Maarten Troost
A humorous memoir of a couple's misadventures while living on a remote island in the Pacific.
In the book Troost described how he and his girlfriend Sylvia adjusted to life on the remote small island in the South Pacific, and built a life for themselves there. Troost described the unusual ... (Wikipedia)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss
A humorous look at the importance of punctuation and its effect on language.
In Eats, Shoots & Leaves , former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and ... (Goodreads)
Goodbye to All That
by Robert Graves
Autobiographical account of Robert Graves' experiences during World War I and his disillusionment with the war and British society.
An autobiographical work that describes firsthand the great tectonic shifts in English society following the First World War, Robert Graves's Goodbye to All That is a matchless evocation of the Great ... (Goodreads)
This Boy's Life
by Tobias Wolff
A young man's memoir of his tumultuous childhood and his struggle to overcome obstacles.
In the 1950s, nomadic and flaky Caroline Wolff wants to settle down and find a decent man to provide a better home for herself and her son, Tobias "Toby" Wolff. She moves to Seattle, Washington and ... (Wikipedia)
Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization
by Graham Hancock
An exploration of ancient monuments and artifacts, uncovering evidence of a lost advanced civilization.
Could the story of mankind be far older than we have previously believed? Using tools as varied as archaeo-astronomy, geology, and computer analysis of ancient myths, Graham Hancock presents a ... (Goodreads)
The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media
by Walter Benjamin
Reflection on the impact of technology on art, culture and society.
Benjamin’s famous 'Work of Art' essay sets out his boldest thoughts–on media and on culture in general--in their most realized form, while retaining an edge that gets under the skin of everyone who ... (Goodreads)
It's Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong
A story of resilience and courage, detailing Armstrong’s fight against cancer and recovery.
In 1993 , 21-year-old Lance Armstrong becomes World Cycling Champion . In Austin, Texas, four years later on October 2, 1996, at age 25, Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer with metastasis ... (Wikipedia)
The Periodic Table
by Primo Levi
An autobiographical exploration of the elements of the periodic table through personal stories.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi is an impassioned response to the Holocaust: Consisting of 21 short stories, each possessing the name of a chemical element, the collection tells of the author's ... (Goodreads)
The Snow Leopard
by Peter Matthiessen
A spiritual journey to the Himalayas, seeking to observe a rare snow leopard.
When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the ... (Goodreads)
The Great Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux
A travelogue of a four-month journey by train from London to Tokyo, exploring the cultures and people encountered along the way.
First published in 1975, Paul Theroux's strange, unique, and hugely entertaining railway odyssey has become a modern classic of travel literature. Here Theroux recounts his early adventures on an ... (Goodreads)
Speak, Memory
by Vladimir Nabokov
Autobiographical journey exploring the intimate memories of author's past.
This is an older alternate cover edition for ISBN 0141183225/ 9780141183220. A newer edition may be found here . From one of the 20th century's great writers comes one of the finest autobiographies ... (Goodreads)
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
A thrilling exploration of the Tarahumara tribe and their superhuman running abilities.
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does ... (Goodreads)
