This article is just a list of books (and a few magazines) that have been impactful for me. I highly recommend all of them. (They are listed in no particular order.)
The Firm
By John Grisham
The first can’t-put-it-down novel I ever read.
Into Thin Air
By Jon Krakauer
The first can’t-put-it-down non-fiction work I ever read. This book changed my life. It made me want to write. It made me want to visit Mount Everest (but not climb it). After reading this book, I became almost obsessively interested in mountaineering, despite the fact that I had neither the will nor the desire to pursue similarly adventurous pursuits.
Into the Wild
By Jon Krakauer
A superlative story reported by one of the most gifted non-fiction writers, in my opinion.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
By J. Maarten Troost
Hilarious, engaging, and accompanied by the perfect amount of cynicism.
Travels
By Michael Crichton
Funny, unexpected, disjointed, but still with a point. “Direct experience” became a mantra for me.
Memories of Summer: When Baseball was an Art and Writing About it a Game
By Roger Kahn
Everything I love about the romanticized aspects of baseball in one book.
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
By Gary Taubes
Helpful.
The DaVinci Code
By Dan Brown
I debated whether or not to include this book because it frustrated me. I didn’t like the ending. There were many aspects of the plot that were unbelievable and absurdly convenient. However, this book is significant for me because it was so engaging that I read almost the entire book (480 pages) in one sitting.
Ski, Skiing, Powder, and Snow Country Magazines
I had a subscription to Skiing before I ever even skied. These magazines changed my life. I spent hours daydreaming about skiing while perusing their contents. (Skiing and Snow Country are now defunct.)
Last weekend (April 21–22), I participated in a Ragnar Trail race on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.
For the past 11 weeks, I’ve been training for a