Tuesday, August 19, 2008

My Inspirational Travel Books

I have been reading several travel blogs and all seem to have a list of inspirational books. So here is my list of books that triggered my imagination, opened my heart to possibility and entertained my adventurous side.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This book is by far my most favorite. It was given to me by a friend and was encouraged by another to read it. I actually read The Alchemist in a time of my life when I needed inspiration.
Its about a boy who set out to find his own personal treasure. His search took him places that he thought he would never be and introduced him to people that filled his heart with desire, fear and love, only to find what he was looking for was in the most unsuspected of places.
Though some may feel that this book is overrated, I contend that this book should be read when hope seems to be slipping or your just having a bad day, because its undeniably a read for the soul.

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

This book I read in college and my good friend Nancy and I usually have a good laugh about how ridiculous the "coincidences" are, however, it resonates with inspirational moments.
Its about a man that trust his instincts and follows "clues" to where he needs to go to find the ultimate answer for human kind and our role with earth (yeah, I know its cheesy, but work with me here). His journey takes him to Peru, where he meets people that guide him toward his own spiritual evolution. Its about trusting a journey when it presents itself and to keep an eye out for signs to get you there.
The book encourages us to seek purpose and meaning through our personal experiences.
There is also an environment theme that I actually enjoyed. It makes you think that we are all connected to this earth and if we just trust this information and respect it, the earth will provide for us for eternity.

Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert
This book was recommended to me by my friend, Theresa, prior to my departure to South America. It resembles my own life and vision, but certainly not about me!!

This book is about a woman who makes a huge decision to walk away from a marriage. A marriage that had no real reason to walk away from. She falls madly in love with a younger man soon after the split, where the relationship ended as quickly as it started. This sent her to travel to Italy, India and Indonesia, alone, where she too was in search of her own personal peace. The the journey was not as easy as she thought, however, she walked away with a deeper understanding of herself.
It was a little too much on the "women power" side but I enjoyed her imagery and humor of which I found myself relating to at times.

In Search of Captain Zero by Allan Weisbecker
This book was recommended to me by my friend Matt, who is a crazy east coast surfer that loves Costa Rica.

The book is a biography about Allan Weisbecker (author) who sets out from Long Island, NY to find his best buddy, Christoper, in Costa Rica. The book delivers amazing imagery through the eyes of a surfer and outlandish tales of drug dealer. Weisbecker travels alone in his camper truck, stops along the Baja Coast to surf and continues down the Central American coast where he finds some interesting people along the way. Weisbecker gives his readers an intimate peek into the mind of a 70's drug transporter who uses his money to support his surfer lifestyle.
The back stories of him and Christopher are quite entertaining, but the intensity of Weisbecker's search of Christopher keeps the pages turning.


5 comments:

m a i d o f b e d l a m said...

Glad you liked the Alchemist. It was worth letting you steal it from me if you found it as inspirational as I did! It's only overrated to those who are too egocentric to see beyond the simplicity of its message.

Domina said...

I would have to agree with you on your last point... on another note, I did not steal your book. You handed it to me and said, "you should really read this". It just took me a year and a half to actually read it!much luvs :)

Anonymous said...

sorry ladies...

books?
books?!?!?
are we still living in the dark ages?!?!? grandmas?

i'm kidding. i read a lot. unfortunately it's a LOT of wikipedia and IMDB.

and domina... i hope one day i get to live a life like yours.

actually... something like that may be happening sooner than i know.

cheers on grand adventures!!!

(btw my word verification code was "nipnm")

Nomadic Matt said...

I love the alchemist. I've read it so many times. The celestine prophecy is really good too.

great list.

Anonymous said...

Great list (Alchemist is my favorite, maybe because I havent read the others) and great blog. Cheers!