Canoe-Kayak Magazine:
Ten Best Adventure Paddling Books
Cecil Kuhne in Canoe-Kayak Magazine proposed a list of the ten best adventure paddling books. Cecil did a pretty good job, but he missed a couple of good ones. (No worries, Cecil. It happens to the best of us.)
In addition to Cecil's list, be sure to have a look at Liam Guilar's list of best paddling books. Here are the titles he missed . . . .
Never Turn Back. By Ron Watters (1994)
Liam Guilar's review: The story of white water pioneer Walt Blackadar, set in the context of the his town and times. This is a rare book, intelligently and honestly written, an entertaining and thought-provoking biography of a hero. Another Review
More Information & Best Source for Purchase: Great Rift Press. (Amazon does not stock the book.)
Running the Amazon. By Joe Kane (1989)
The story of the first full descent of the 4,200 mile length of the Amazon River from source to sea--big rapids, drug runners, guerrillas--it's all there, the stuff of adventure.
Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Demon River Apurimac. by J. Calvin Giddings .
Liam Guilar's review: Weird group dynamics, but Gidding's captures what it's like to be heading down a river you know nothing about in a very foreign country. The photographs act as a reminder that yes, we did paddle those things.
Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Here's Cecil's List of Ten . . . .
Courting the Diamond Sow: A Whitewater Expedition on Tibet's Forbidden River. By Wickliffe W. Walker
The story of the tragic 1998 whitewater descent of Tibet's Tsangpo River during which kayaker Doug Gordon was lost. Amazon.com: More Information
On Celtic Tides: One Man's Journey Around Ireland by Sea Kayak. By Chris Duff
A transfixing memoir, Celtic Tides is the vivid account of the first ever circumnavigation of Ireland by kayak. Told with sensitivity and care, Duff's odyssey is about a lone man and a capricious sea and its moods of tranquillity and contrasting terror. But the book is more than an adventure story. It's also about haunting beauty, ancient history, and spiritual renewal found along the storm-lashed coasts of an enchanting land. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Dangerous River: Adventure on the Nahanni. By R. M. Patterson
In 1927, R. M. Patterson went looking for adventure on Nahanni River in Northwest Canada -- and he found it. Dangerous River is his journal of his year-long journey on and off the river. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Keep Australia on Your Left: A True Story of an Attempt to Circumnavigate Australia by Kayak. By Eric Stiller
Eric Stiller teams up with Aussie Tony Brown to attempt to kayak the 10,000 mile-long coast of Australia. They're up against huge waves, unpredictable currents, and long, long days. Do they make it? There's only way to find out.
Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Where Rivers Run: A 6,000-Mile Exploration of Canada by Canoe. By Joanie and Gary McGuffin
Recently married, Joanie and Gary McGuffin undertake a 2-year, 6,000 mile journey from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Travels with a Kayak. By Whit Deschner
Liam Guilar Review: Not very politically correct, but very funny. Outdoor writers are always faced with the problem of how do you describe a particular journey. A case in point is the Grand Canyon which has been written about by everybody. Deschner's approach is pure entertainment--and it may give you insight into the way some of your friends think, especially if they are that peculiar life form: the English Kayaker.
Information from the Author's Site
The Lonely Land. By Sigurd F. Olson
Sigurd Olson is the undisputed bard of the the Canoe Country, and The Lonely Land is his story of the 1955 journey that he took with several friends down the Churchill River of Saskatchewan. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Paddle to the Arctic. By Don Starkell
If the Three Stooges had made one of their movies in the Arctic, Don Starkell would have been in it. One crazy mistake after another plagued Starkell during his attempt to paddle the Northwest Passage, a mere 3,000 miles from the Hudson Bay to the Arctic Ocean. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Alone at Sea. By Hannes Lindemann
Hannes Lindemann made two solo crossings of the wild Atlanta: one in a dugout canoe and the other in a seventeen-foot folding kayak. Amazingly, he completed both trips and capsized only twice. Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
Canoeing with the Cree. By Eric Sevareid
Eric Sevareid was a celebrated print and television journalist in mid to late 1900s. In 1930, when his news career was still on the horizon, he and another teenage friend started off the Minnesota River in a used 18-foot canvas canoe, heading north. Four months and 2,250 miles later, they arrived at their destination in Hudson Bay.
Amazon.com: More Information or Purchase
End of Listing