No, Wiseman
There were a number of travel books that caught my attention this year, and if your travel companions and/or clients have them on your holiday gift list, there are several books worth considering as the holidays approach.
I’ve already written about a few of them: “Delivering the Wow,” a memoir by Royal Caribbean Group chairman and former CEO Richard Fain; “Hidden Hospitality: The Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Era to the Civil Rights Era” by Calvin Stovall Jr.; Edward Mady and Taylor Scott’s new book on hospitality (“Honing the Human Edge” and “Give Hospitality,” respectively).
But there’s more. Among the books of particular interest to those in the travel industry are Leo Le Bon’s “Trail Blazing the Unknown: An Adventurous Life” (Wanderlust Consulting, 2024) and Frank Marini’s “Staying on Track: Lessons from a Customer-Focused Travel Disruptor” (Damianos Publishing, 2024).
Le Bon’s claim to be the “godfather of adventure travel” is well founded. The book chronicles his personal adventures and the founding of his company, Mountain Travel, which began in 1966 with organized treks through Mount Annapurna in Nepal. This book is a combination of autobiography, business book, and travel guide, detailing his many extraordinary adventures, the structure of his company, and details of the places he visited that will be of interest to travelers there today.
Railbookers CEO Marini’s slim book is a lively and informative read about how focusing on customers and technology can transform your business, from product development to marketing to customer experience. He uses Railbookers as a testing ground for his ideas, connecting how applied theory led to the company’s incredible growth before, during, and after the pandemic.
There are also new releases related to adventure and railways that may be of interest to passionate travelers as well as industry insiders.
Complementing Le Bon’s “Adventurous Life” is “The Explorers Club Presents Letters from the Edge: Stories of Curiosity, Bravery and Discovery” by Jeff Wilser (Crown Publishing Group, 2025). Using actual correspondence written by those profiled in the book as a thread to connect each chapter, Wilser tells the stories of 45 members of the Explorers’ Club, including familiar names such as polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott, President Teddy Roosevelt, astronaut Jim Lovell, journalist Lowell Thomas, and astronomer Carl Sagan. However, it also includes stories from lesser-known adventurers, including some who have written for Travel Weekly, such as JR Harris, Justin Fornal, and, in the spirit of full disclosure, myself.
Marini’s business-focused book on rail-centric travel agencies may not be for every consumer, but Everett Potter’s “100 Train Trips of a Lifetime: The World’s Best Rides” (National Geographic, 2025) will also appeal to those more comfortable at home in their armchairs than sitting in a Venice Simplon-Orient-Express club car.
This was a labor of love for Porter, who has been writing travel articles for National Geographic for the past 15 years. This beautifully illustrated book was eventually published by National Geographic. This book details exciting train journeys on six continents. (Interesting, but not always flashy. Yes, it includes a variety of the Orient Express, but it also includes the narrow-gauge, plain Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. I can attest that his description of it as a “fun ride” is accurate.)
“South America, an Anthology of Travel Writing” (Bradt Travel Guides, 2025), edited by Celia Dillow, is an excellent collection of essays about the continent, some from previously published books and some previously unpublished. The 43 brief entries, organized by country, include Jan Morris on Bolivia, Teddy Roosevelt and Michael Palin writing about Brazil, David Attenborough’s views on Paraguay, Hiram Bingham’s views on Peru, Charles Darwin on Uruguay and Christopher Isherwood exploring Venezuela.
Incidentally, the book’s publisher will launch its first new guidebook on Afghanistan in 20 years next February with the release of “Afghanistan” by travel agency Untamed Borders founder James Wilcox (with Dana Facaros).
One of the most interesting guidebooks that caught my attention this year is “African Venice: A Guide to Art, Culture and People” (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2025) by Paul Kaplan and Shaul Bassi. Although you may more often associate Asia with the city than with its closest continental neighbor, Africa, thanks to Venice’s Marco Polo, evidence of Africa and its influence on Venice is detailed in this 263-page book. This book is both a practical guidebook for visitors to the city and an interesting read in its own right.
Eleanor Hamby and Dr. Sandra Hazelip rose to social media fame by proving that you don’t have to be under 40 to be a working digital nomad. They bonded after meeting as widowed empty nesters and now as great-grandmothers in their 80s, they mix travel, work, exploration and social media (Hambi is a photodocumentarian and Hazelip is a geriatrician). Their book, “Here We Go: Lessons for Living Fearlessly from Two Traveling Nanas” (Viking, 2025), written with Elisa Petrini, is a delight.
