Some books are able to transport their readers into fantastical worlds of magic, time travel, and other lands and impossible situations beyond the capabilities of our own experiences.  Through reading, you are able to explore extraordinary and improbable worlds and experience wonderful fantasy–adventures through words. The following four books do something even more amazingly plausible; they take you through adventures in our own marvelous world. You can experience the wondrous possibilities of exploring the mountains, wilderness, and even your own little town. Pick up one of these non-fiction books this summer to find the motivation to make your own real-life adventures in the world around you.

An American Childhood follows the childhood of its author, Annie Dillard, who grew up in the 1950’s. Dillard’s detailed descriptions of her childhood perceptions of societal norms and her quest for happiness poses the reader thought provoking questions about how we can find happiness in the world around us.  “An American Childhood” can motivate us, as the reader, to think about exploring our own little towns for their unique beauty and reflections of happiness.

Sometimes it feels like there is no more of the world left to discover. We have Google Maps, photography,  and comprehensive search engines at our disposal. If you want to see something and experience it, you can do so from your computer screen. However, in “Unruly Places”, Alastair Bonnet explores some places in the world, so mysterious or uncharted that can only be experienced in real life. This book will make you want to book travel plans and explore the unexplored.

A Walk in the Woods follows Bill Bryson’s trek through the great wilderness of the Appalachian Trail. Unfit and unprepared, Bryson recounts his adventures intermixed with cynical wit and thorough research that will make you laugh out loud. This book is hilarious and incredibly informative. It allows readers to see that such an adventure is doable for even the most inexperienced of hikers.