Here are a list of eight books I read in 2025 related to travel to help inspire me on my cross Canada journey. Most of these had value to take with me while a couple wasted my time.
The McCandless Mecca: A Pilgrimage to the Magic Bus of the Stampede Trail
By Ken Ilgunas and Josh Spice
4/5
This is probably the shortest book on the list at just 80 pages, and I actually commend the author for this because there’s another book on here that pads out an otherwise simple concept with fluff.
The author was inspired by the famous book “Into the Wild” and with a friend decides to recreate the journey to the famous bus where Chris McCandless’s journey ended, before the icon is moved to a museum. If you haven’t read the story or know its lore, this is going to be a confusing read. However if you found yourself daydreaming about the Alaska wilderness, this will be a nice companion to the legendary tale.
How to Live the Dream: Things Every Van Lifer Needs to Know
By Kristine Hudson
1/5
When I choose to learn about a subject in the age of the internet (and AI for that matter), and I settle on a book, I expect it to bring something to the table that the aforementioned resources can’t provide, so I was disappointed to discover that this narrates like the most basic of listicles. It’s a short read at 114 pages but is a painful one because you will ask yourself why this wasn’t just summed up into a 20 minute You Tube video.
Confessions of a Middle-Aged Runaway: An RV Travel Adventure
By Heidi Eliason
4/5
The author decides to do what many of us have dreamed at one point: sell everything and live on the road. Eliason sells almost all of her belongings, buys an RV and hits the road with almost no experience. This is what I admire about the book: that fish out of water tale. She describes in detail her struggles and fears, ups and downs, both technical and personal. This was the book I was hoping for, not because I’m going to give up my creature comforts, but I wanted to know what I would expect from my condensed experience driving across Canada for six weeks. The bottom line is you don’t need to be doing what Heidi is to get a lot of value from her lessons as she finds herself.
Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometer Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic
By Adam Shoalts
3/5
At 362 pages this could have been a lot shorter. A prevailing theme I’ve noticed in books on travel is when nothing is happening in their recollections, they’ll fill that gap with the history of where they are or other such anecdotes, which is fine as long as it doesn’t overshadow the main story line. So when Adam Shoalts is in the interim between raging rivers and rock faces, he’ll go off on tangents. In this case though it’s mostly forgivable, as this is a solid read, and a fascinating concept. A dog leg left from most travel books, which involve more modern forms of transport.
The Drive Across Canada: The Remarkable Story of the Trans-Canada Highway
By Mark Richardson
1/5
This is nothing more than a compilation of more interesting (but not by much) stories of where the author drives past on a journey across Canada to test drive a car for publicity. Skip it.
On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist
By Clarissa Ward
4/5
While not a travel photography book in the traditional sense as most long to go to the safest places in the world for personal reflection, sometimes you want to make a sacrifice for something bigger. Clarissa Ward walks us through her journey into becoming a war photographer and all the trauma, laughs, fears and near misses that come with it. This one took me awhile to finish as books like this tend to be intense, but I promise it’s well worth it.
Mauled: Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear Attack
By Crosbie Cotton & Jeremy Evans
4/5
Speaking of intense, this would have been a horror story if it weren’t a true personal account of fellow Albertan Jeremy Evans. I think books like these are absolutely necessary to those of us who plan to traverse the wilderness, even if it’s barely off the beaten path, and to always be prepared. Evans was attached by a Grizzly, and this 192 page read recounts the experience from his perspective and those of whom he encountered, as well as the rescue teams and family. At the end of the book is a photo of his injuries that are not for the faint of heart. I encourage you to not skip ahead to look, as it adds to Jeremy beating these incredible odds.
Richard Johnson: Resilience-Ice Huts and Root Cellars
By Lucie Bergeron-Johnson
3/5
Last on this list is actually a photo book, given to me as a birthday present from my wife. Not something I would have sought out myself and those are the best kinds of gifts. In this case we are presented with a series of ice huts for fishing on the lake, taken all over Canada, as well as Root cellars in Newfoundland used for storing food before the wide spread use of the fridge. On their own they are fairly unassuming images, but together in a book they present a beautiful collection of something unique. It’s large at 12×12 inches and so the minute details are seen. Little to no people were shown in the photos, but the humanity is clearly visible.
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