Best Travel Books

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Who better be your Best Travel Books to guide you through? Here is a list of Recommended Best Travel Books to choose from for your next travel adventure.

• Along the Ganges

Best Travel Books: An emigrant from Cold War Bulgaria now living in Cape Town, Trojanow brings a pan-religious enthusiasm to his writings on Asia, and in his journey from the Ganges's source to the chaotic cities along its course, he treats the river and its Hindu devotees with fascination, respect, and an eye for detail. Nominated by Nuruddin Farah (Haus Publishers, $20).

• Arabian Sands

Best Travel Books: Born in Ethiopia to a British diplomat, the writer-explorer was disenchanted with the West and spent five years traveling among the bedouins of southern Arabia, detailing their disappearing way of life. For his dedication and his eloquence, Paul Theroux puts him "on my classics list" (Penguin, $15).

• A Barbarian in Asia

Best Travel Books: For those who would have liked to imagine Rimbaud as a reporter, the louche French poet Michaux might make the perfect guide to the East in the thirties. John Wray calls the book "hilarious, bizarre, and wildly self-indulgent"—not always a bad thing. "He was apparently hell-bent on alienating half the planet, or at least those parts he traveled through. Not to be read by anyone looking to get a feel for what life is like in India, China, or Japan" (New Directions, $15).

• Bill Bryson – Down Under

Best Travel Books: Any Bryson book could make the list – in fact, I was tempted to place Notes From a Small Island on here too, it being my personal favourite – but Down Under is an object lesson in how to be interesting. That may seem like an obvious thing to say, but it’s amazing how many travel writers forget this one, crucial rule. Bryson knows exactly what to say and what to omit, and it’s as much about the details he leaves out as the anecdotes he includes. Because of his ability to make you lose consciousness with laughter, Bryson doesn’t get enough credit for the quiet insights he has into other cultures. His piercing eye is no better than when it is trained on the Aussies.