A few days ago, I highlighted three of my personal favorite outdoor/adventure magazines - National Geographic Adventure, Men's Journal, and Outside. And when I'm not trekking through jungles or biking virgin paths, I'm an armchair traveler, reading about other traveler's adventures in those magazines, but in books as well.

As a travel writer and outdoor lover, I'm always looking for motivation and inspiration both before my travels and during. Before my trip to Southeast Asia last year, I read "Deliver Us from Evil" by Dr. Thomas Dooley and during my two-day slow boat journey up the Mekong River, I read another book by Dr. Dooley, "Edge of Tomorrow". It was because of his experiences and books that I decided to travel to Laos in the first place. My experiences there are some of the most cherished ones of my life: ziplining through the Bokeo Nature Reserve, observing the rare gibbons, and connecting with locals who had never seen, yet alone, had a conversation with an African-American woman. Truly priceless.

So, Kristen Pope's post at Vagablogging about National Geographic's composed list of the "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time" really hit home with me. A few of the books on the list have inspired me to travel. Even more, "Kon-Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl made me want to become a writer.

What about you? How many have you read? Which books inspired you to travel? Which ones do you think will inspire you?

Here are a few of my favorites:

2. Journals, by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1814) Are there two American explorers more famous? Were there any braver? When they left St. Louis in 1804 to find a water route to the Pacific, no one knew how extensive the Rocky Mountains were or even exactly where they were, and the land beyond was terra incognita. Lewis and Clark's Journals are the closest thing we have to a national epic, and they are magnificent, full of the wonder of the Great West. Here are the first sightings of the vast prairie dog cities; here are huge bears that keep on coming at you with five or six bullets in them, Indian tribes with no knowledge of white men, the mountains stretching for a thousand miles; here are the long rapids, the deep snows, the ways of the Sioux, Crow, Assiniboin; here are buffalo by the millions. Here is the West in its true mythic proportions. Historian Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage gives a fine overview, but to hear the adventure in the two captains' own dogged, rough-hewn words, you need the complete Elliott Coues edition in three volumes. Buy all three. Dive in. Rediscover heroism.

17. Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl (1950) Nine balsa-wood logs, a big square sail, a bamboo "cabin" with a roof made of banana leaves-thus did Norwegian Heyerdahl and his companions set sail from Peru toward Polynesia to prove a point: that the South Pacific was settled from the east. Point proved? Maybe not, but it's one hell of a ride-a daring tale, dramatically told.

79. Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, by Tim Cahill (1987) America's premier outdoor gonzo journalist, Cahill seems to have a license to get into trouble and does so consistently and well. Jaguars don't actually rip his flesh, but he does dive with sharks and nap with gorillas in this, his best collection of adventure journalism.

Read the complete list here.

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