Book picks similar to
Riding High by Ted Simon


travel
adventure
motorcycle
non-fiction

Travels With Myself and Another


Martha Gellhorn - 1979
    As a journalist, Gellhorn covered every military conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Vietnam and Nicaragua. She also bewitched Eleanor Roosevelt's secret love and enraptured Ernest Hemingway with her courage as they dodged shell fire together.Hemingway is, of course, the unnamed other in the title of this tart memoir, first published in 1979, in which Gellhorn describes her globe-spanning adventures, both accompanied and alone. With razor-sharp humor and exceptional insight into place and character, she tells of a tense week spent among dissidents in Moscow; long days whiled away in a disused water tank with hippies clustered at Eilat on the Red Sea; and her journeys by sampan and horse to the interior of China during the Sino-Japanese War.

Blown Away


Herb Payson - 1980
    Their globe-spanning travels and side-splitting adventures are recounted in Blown Away, a sort of Swiss Family Robinson by way of the Marx Brothers.

Round Ireland with a Fridge


Tony Hawks - 1997
    Joined by his trusty traveling companion-cum-domestic appliance, he made his way from Dublin to Donegal, from Sligo through Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Wexford, Wicklow--and back again to Dublin. In their month of madness, Tony and his fridge met a real prince, a bogus king, and the fridge got christened. They surfed together, entered a bachelor festival, and one of them had sex without the other knowing. And unexpectedly, the fridge itself became a momentary focus for the people of Ireland.An international bestseller, Round Ireland with a Fridge is a classic travel adventure in the tradition of Bill Bryson with a dash of Dave Barry.

I Promise I Won't Kill You: A Hitchhiking Adventure


Nate Damm - 2014
    The people who chose to give him a lift along the way proved to be every bit as interesting and strange as he had hoped they would, sharing their stories, unique nuggets of wisdom, and heartfelt thoughts on life as they shared their passenger seats. Along the way, Nate experienced extreme boredom, run-ins with the law, drunk drivers, handsy truckers, and more, finding the spirit of America and coming to some important personal realizations in the process.

Just Another Mountain: A Memoir of Hope


Sarah Jane Douglas - 2019
    Alone and adrift in the world, she very nearly gave up hope - but she'd made a promise to her mother that she would keep going no matter what. So she turned to the beautiful, dangerous, forbidding mountains of her native Scotland.By walking in her mother's footsteps, she learns to accept her own troubled past, finding the strength to overcome her grief - and, ultimately, to carry on in the face of her own diagnosis twenty years later.Searingly honest and utterly relatable, bringing the exhilarating triumphs and challenges of mountain walking to life with wit, charm and raw candour, Just Another Mountain is a story of hope and redemption, of a mother and a daughter, and of how we can learn both to live and to love. Sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other ... and just keep walking.'I loved Just Another Mountain . . . It's a really good read' - Lorraine Kelly“Honest, raw and beautifully written, this uplifting memoir is testament that in life there are times when there is nothing for it but to scale that mountain” -- The Herald Best Summer Reads 2019'An inspiring book for anyone facing challenges. And a heartfelt reminder that only some mountains look like mountains' - Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs and Wild Signs and Star Paths'A beautifully written book . . . a powerful message and a thrilling conclusion to a seemingly unachievable goal' - Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows'A story of love and loss and of the redemptive power of mountains, in particular the incomparable mountains of Scotland' -- Stephen Venables, mountaineer and writerAn excellent memoir … vivid and honest … so much more than just a book about walking and climbing in the mountains. Quite frankly it's heart-breaking at times. Sarah Jane Douglas writes beautifully, her descriptive passages of what she sees and experiences on the mountains are some of the best I've read” – read-warbler.blogspot.com

The stranger in my life


Janet Holt - 2012
    With the help of an experienced psychologist she relives the events of 34 years ago and in doing so discovers what happened to her business partner, Fred Handford. Following EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) treatment the nightmares she has suffered since the day he disappeared - 19th March 1976 - stop competely and the truth is finally revealed.

Walking Home: My Family and Other Rambles


Clare Balding - 2014
    Suddenly he says, 'You should do the Wayfarer's Walk. We always talked about it, do you remember?'So I start thinking about it seriously. It is 71 miles in total. It will be a great family adventure. Won't it?In Clare Balding's family, walking just took too long - she galloped through the countryside and she galloped through life. There was certainly no time to get to know Britain beyond its racecourses.Then, in 1999, Clare took a call out of the blue from a BBC producer looking for a presenter for a new radio series. 'Do you walk?' she asked. 'Well, I walk the dog . . .'That series, Ramblings, is still going strong - and Clare's caught the walking bug. Since then she's covered fifteen hundred miles of footpaths, from the Pennine Way to the South West Coastal Path. She's tackled apocalyptic thunderstorms, struggled with blisters and a twisted ankle, and seduced fans of 'erotic radio' by getting changed in a bus stop. She's walked with historians, geologists, twitchers, botanists and poets, who've told her things they never thought they would reveal.Now she wants her family to share some of that pleasure. Her and her brother Andrew are determined to conquer the Wayfarer's Walk, a route which runs past their family stables Kingsclere. What could possibly go wrong?This is a story of paths and people, of discovering the glories of Britain and Ireland, and of (mis)adventures with the family. Along the way there are charming diversions and life-changing rambles, including her take on the 2012 Olympics. And, finally, this is Clare's story of Walking Home . . .Clare Balding's first book, My Animals and Other Family, was a runaway number one bestseller and won Autobiography of the Year at the 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards. Clare broadcasts on TV and radio for the BBC, Channel 4 and BT Sport. In 2013 she received an OBE for services to broadcasting and journalism. She lives in West London with her partner Alice, their wayward Tibetan Terrier Archie and a cat who couldn't give a damn called Itty.Praise for My Animals and Other Family:'You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want a horse' Caitlin Moran'Moving, funny, and larger than life' Michael Morpurgo'Simply fabulous' Jilly Cooper'Stonking anecdotes ... sharply charming' Guardian'Magical, enchanting, riotously eccentric' Daily Mail

Karma Gone Bad: How I Learned to Love Mangos, Bollywood and Water Buffalo


Jenny Feldon - 2013
    Outsourced to India. At Home with Herself?A charming yet honest memoir of one Upper West side housewife who finds herself saying good-bye to Starbucks and all her notions of "home" when she and her husband are outsourced to Hyderabad. Jenny Feldon imagined life in India as a glitzy yoga whirlwind. Instead she found buffalo-related traffic jams. Jenny struggled to fight the depression, bitterness, and anger as her sense of self and her marriage began to unravel. And it was all India's fault--wasn't it? Equally frustrating, revealing, and amusing, this is the true story of an accidental housewife trapped in the third world.

The unknown Mongol


Scott "Junior" Ereckson - 2010
    From a child to the National President of one the most notorious Motorcycle clubs in history. The best book of its genre.Once you start it you won't be able to put it down.

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven


Susan Jane Gilman - 2009
    They set out to conquer the world. But the world had other plans for them.Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with Communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes. In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes.Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever.Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven is a flat-out page-turner, an astonishing true story of hubris and redemption told with Gilman's trademark compassion, lyricism, and wit.

Changing Gears: A Family Odyssey to the End of the World,


Nancy Sathre-Vogel - 2013
    What followed was a family journey of epic proportions – a journey of physical challenge, emotional endurance, teamwork, perseverance, and tremendous learning opportunities. It was a discovery of self, of priorities, of accepting hardships, of appreciating blessings, and of contrasting a comfortable past life with the extreme hardship and poverty of those they met.

In Search of Greener Grass


Graham Field - 2012
    Written with a dry, cynical and opinionated wit, this book offers advice on preparation for motorbike travels. It's part guidebook - Graham describes routes worth travelling and what to expect from them - and part life story, full of anecdotes and knowledge generated by a quarter of a century of travelling. Graham's narrative is full of insightful observations, occasional wisdom and sporadic alcohol fuelled inspiration, a little rebellious and somewhat defiant. The book offers insecurities and enlightenment, banter and bollocks from inside the helmet of someone who did know better, then forgot again. All the way to Mongolia and then a bit further, discovering truths, wondering if they're right then reassessing it all. Graham rides into the unknown, before moving on again, deciding that contentment must be around the next corner, occasionally finding it and then missing it.

The Domino Diaries: My Decade Boxing with Olympic Champions and Chasing Hemingway's Ghost in the Last Days of Castro's Cuba


Brin-Jonathan Butler - 2015
    This book is the culmination of Butler's decade spent in the trenches of Havana, trying to understand a culture perplexing to Westerners: one whose elite athletes regularly forgo multimillion-dollar opportunities to stay in Cuba and box for their country, while living in penury. Butler's fascination with this distinctly Cuban idealism sets him off on a remarkable journey, training with, befriending, and interviewing the champion boxers that Cuba seems to produce more than any other country. In the process, though, Butler gets to know the landscape of the exhilaratingly warm Cuban culture—and starts to question where he feels most at home. In the tradition of Michael Lewis and John Jeremiah Sullivan, Butler is a keen and humane storyteller, and the perfect guide for this riotous tour through the streets of Havana.

23 Days in July: Inside the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's Record-Breaking Victory


John Wilcockson - 2004
    And in 2004, five-time champion Lance Armstrong set out to achieve what no other cyclist in the 100-year history of the race had ever done: win a sixth Tour de France.Armstrong had four serious challengers who wanted nothing more than to deny the man the French call Le Boss from achieving his goal. The major threat among them was the only other former Tour de France champion in last year's race, Germany's Jan Ullrich- The Kaiser. But when the race was over, Lance Armstrong once again wore the yellow jersey of victory.

Anywhere but Bordeaux!: Adventures of an American Teacher in France


Jacqueline Donnelly - 2019
    Hoping to escape her predictable American life in the States, she runs away in search of adventure and self-discovery.The story reveals daily life in France, and the encounters with wonderful and not so wonderful characters along the way.It is perfect reading for anyone tempted to run away and ideal for a book club.