Curious here,

I have a wide range of books about climbing/mountaineering etc and there's several which still need to be read. Question is, last summer while trudging around in Africa I carried with me a copy of The Villan (Don Whillans book) and during down time, on the long flights and layovers, I just wasn't in the mood to read it (but it was a great book though!).

This summer, I'm splitting 7 weeks between Europe and the Tetons and for the long flights/layovers/downtime I'll need something to read but what's sad is that I am a high school teacher and the only non-textbooks that I own are related to climbing (I think I had a copy of the Illiad when I was a kid but no idea where it is)...

Do you guys prefer non-climbing literature while out in the hills for extended periods of time? If so, need some help finding something to read.

On long trips I used tent bound time to further my education. I read classics, technical journals, The History of Monothesim, The People's History of the US, etc. I highly recommend NOT doing this. Something fun, light, and easy to digest goes down well. I personally enjoy stories about sailing when I am in the mountains. William F. Buckley Jr. has a couple of books about sailing that are really delightful.

Everyone's taste is so different it's a tough proposition, but A.St.Exupery's 'Wind, Sand, and Stars' is a light-weight and stunningly written series of short haunting memoirs of flying over the Andes and crashes in the deserts of Africa.

Otherwise, Par Lagerkvist's 'the Dwarf' is utterly, completely, perfect. For something more mountaineeringly-inspired, 'the Boys of Everest' was a great read. And anything by Greg Child, of course

Sailing definitely. "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea," is great, also "The Perfect Storm." A bit depressing but fascinating true crime is "Columbine."

I rarely read while on trips in the outdoors. I'm too busy either walking, cooking, shooting photos or sleeping. When on a scheduled "rest day" I am usually lying in the sun, swimming and sleeping. I guess a book would be useful, but when my pack already weighs 95 pounds at the trailhead I can't really justify lugging a book into the hills.

The best book that I read on a back-packing trip was Rommel: The Desert Fox. It was an extremely detailed account of his exploits. I couldn't put it down.

"The Worst Journey In The World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard .

Sometimes I read mountain or wildlife guides while in the mountains but I don't like to carry books there, they'd add to much weight to my backpack