IAE Recommended Reading List

Title Author ISBN# Pub Date Publisher Notes
Baikal, Sacred Sea of Siberia Peter Mattheissen 0-87156-584-6 1992 Sierra Club
Beyond Ararat Bettina Selby 1993 Abacus A look at cycling along the Turkish Black Sea coast. She seems to spend most of her time hitching, but it still offers insights into an area about which little is written
Central Asia, 2nd edition Giles Whittell 1860110762 June 1996 Pequot Press Awesome book by a seasoned traveler revelling in unique lands and peoples
Cycling to Xian Lonely Planet Pub. A lame cyclist whines about biking a small distance
Danziger's Travels Nick Danziger 1985 Flamingo A must read for any aspiring adventure traveller. A (laregely illegal) trek across Persia to China
Full Tilt Dervla Murphy 1965 Century Pub. A classic on cycling iin Persia before bicycle touring was cool, or even conceivable
Georgian Feast Georgian food, culture, and traditions encapsulated in delicious brevity
Himalayan Passage Jeremy Schmidt 1991 Mountaineers Books Tales of a meandering trail of backpackers through Tibet before the tourist throngs
Lonely Planet - Central Asia Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - China Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - India & Bangladesh Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Karakoram Hiway Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Mongolia Paul Greenway et al 0 864425007 June 1997 Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Mongolian Phrasebook Lonely Planet Pub. Very useful and cheap
Lonely Planet - Nepal Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Pakistan Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Russia, Ukraine & Belarus Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Russian Phrasebook Lonely Planet Pub. Very useful and cheap
Lonely Planet - Tibet Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Turkey Lonely Planet Pub.
Lonely Planet - Turkish Phrasebook Lonely Planet Pub. Very useful and cheap
Lonely Planet - Ukrainian Phrasebook Lonely Planet Pub.
Medicine for Mountaineering James Wilkerson The Mountaineers Great medical advice for adventure travelers
Nations and Peoples: The Soviet Experience Marilyn Bechtel & Daniel Rosenberg 0-916972-08-9 1984 New World Review Pub. Chock full of good Soviet propaganda
Nomads of Western Tibet: The Survival of a Way of Life Melvyn Goldstein & Cynthia Beall 1990 U. of Cal. Press
Off the Map Mark Jenkins Great travel tale of first guys to bike across the USSR
Seven Years in Tibet Heinrich Harrier Early adventure travel classic
Tibetan Phrasebook Bloomfield and Tshering 1987 Snow Lion Pub. Utterly useless. Full of such phrases as 'is that a buddist monk circumambulating the monestary?" and "is that an authentic prayer mask."
Tibet: A Politicial History Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa 1984 Potala Publications The foremost Tibetan historian writing in English
The Changing World of Mongolia's Nomads Melvyn Goldstein & Cynthia Beall 0-520-08551-5 1994 U. of Cal. Press Beautiful book about post-Soviet rural Mongolian life
Georgia: A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus Roger Rosen 962-217-502-3 1999 Odyssey Publications Awesome Georgian travel guide book
The Lost Heart of Central Asia Colin Thubron < 1994 Harper Perennial A relatively up to date look at post-Soviet life in the Central Asia republics.
Trans-Siberian Handbook, 4th edition 187375616X February 1998 Seven Hills Book Dist.
Trekking in Russia and Central Asia : A Traveler's Guide Frith Maier 898863554 1994 Mountaineers Books Unique book chock full of hikes in very exotic formerly Soviet locales

Also highly recommended to check a plethora of articles from back issues of the National Geographic