5 Adventurous Books to Read on a Rainy Day
At NEMO, we believe that, with a little imagination, adventure is available to all and can be experienced anywhere. From the highest peak to the city streets, opportunity lies just around the bend of the trail or on the next block. But when the weather turns, the team has found that we can get our nature fix by diving into a good book.
We asked around the office (digitally, of course) for some recommendations, and we'd like to share them with you.
1. The Only Kayak
by Kim Heacox
“To watch an animal so exquisitely fitted in its world was better than any ballet.”
I was gifted this book by a former coworker and I have done my best to make sure all my friends take the time to read it. The Only Kayak documents the author’s time spent as a park ranger at Glacier Bay National Park and how the influx of tourism and modernization has effected America’s wild spaces. Kim does a wonderful job capturing the beauty of the landscape and the humanity of the people he encounters. I’d recommend this book to any nature lover or thrill seeker as it really does have something for everybody.
– Travis Gagliano
2. The Wild Trees
by Richard Preston
I read The Wild Trees a few years ago, and it really stuck with me. I'm not a non-fiction kind of reader at all, but this book fascinated me — redwoods are SO cool. I couldn't get enough of it. I could really visualize people climbing these giant trees and moving around in their canopies. Redwood research is something I hadn't heard about at all and it was really cool to go back in time and learn about how all of our current information on them was discovered. This book really inspired me to take more of an interest in trees and nature. Now, I just need to see some redwoods in person!
– Sam Rokos
3. Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey
“Balance, that's the secret. Moderate extremism. The best of both worlds.”
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey is a great read for anyone who can appreciate the quiet corners of the outdoors. Abbey chronicles his time as a Park Ranger in Arches National Park, before the crowds and the pavement. He bounces from humorous stories of desert old-timers, rants and raves on park visitors, and deep self-exploration by traveling further from civilization. Each essay tugs at our personal relationship with our own secret spots, knowing that development knows no boundary.
– Charles Houston
4. My Side of the Mountain
By Jean Craighead George
To this day, My Side of the Mountain is still one of my favorite childhood books of all time — along with Lord of the Flies and Where the Red Fern Grows. I vividly remember the adventures of Sam Gribley as he thrived in the woods of the Catskill Mountains, learning and practicing the skills of Native Americans like trapping, foraging, fishing, and hunting for wild game. As a young boy, his story fired up my imagination and desire to live among the wild — to grind acorns into flour, to steal a baby falcon and train it to be my companion, and hunt deer for smoked venison and to make buckskin clothes. It is a story of resilience and independence and is sure to transport any young adventurer's mind during these times.
– Randy Gaetano
5. Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
“Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around be nomadic, make each day a new horizon."
If you find yourself in need of a relatable read in these crazy times, I would highly recommend one of my personal favorites: Krakauer’s Into the Wild. It’s about a young adult who feels that he may be more at home isolated in the great Alaskan wilderness, living the ever-coveted simple life with only a handful of survival items in his backpack. Whether you believe the protagonist’s journey to isolate in nature, alone with his thoughts, is the pinnacle to finding enlightenment or judge him on acting impulsively on naïve, romantic ideas, you’ll be sure to be drawn into his story to try to better understand how someone could leave their whole life behind for the unknown away from all family and people.
– Brittany Bendel
For a little fun, visit our team page to see if their portraits match their recommendations.
If you have any recommendations, please share them with us at Journey@nemoequipment.com.