Mark Kenyon is no stranger to Mountain & Prairie listeners—he’s the author of That Wild Country, host of the Wired to Hunt podcast, and the newly minted Director of Conservation at MeatEater. He’s also one of the most voracious readers I know.
Every few years, Mark and I record a special episode where we discuss our top 10 favorite books in a particular category. The first one was our top 10 conservation books, then we explored our top 10 books about the American West—you can find links to both of those episodes in the show notes.
For this episode, we decided to discuss our top 10 adventure books—a category that both Mark and I love and have spent decades reading. We each brought five books that have stayed with us. Some are classics. Some are newer. Some are brutal. Some are unexpectedly funny. All of them reveal something about the human drive to embrace discomfort and move toward the unknown rather than away from it.
Yes, Mark and I love reading adventure books for entertainment and enjoyment, but we also both try to extract lessons from these wild stories that can be applied to our own lives. Whether we’re thinking about family, assessing risk, leadership, attitude, or simply not taking ourselves too seriously, there are important lessons to be learned from even the most outlandish adventures. So this conversation goes much deeper than a simple “Read this book because it’s good”—we discuss how these books have shaped us and how they continue to influence our thinking.
And if you like book recommendations, be sure to sign up for my bimonthly book recommendations email. For more than ten years, I’ve been sending one email every other month featuring books I recently read and highly recommend. The topics and genres are all over the place—and can admittedly be a little weird—but people seem to enjoy them, so I keep sending them. I just published my recommendations for January and February 2026, so you can sign up here if you’re interested.
Thanks so much for listening!
Photos courtesy of Mark Kenyon
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Topics Discussed:
- 0:00 – Introducing Mark Kenyon and highlighting North Bridger Bison
- 6:05 – Mark’s new role at MeatEater
- 13:03 – Mark’s next book timeline
- 18:28 – A new MeatEater podcast
- 21:43 – Getting into the books, starting with a Doug Peacock classic
- 28:17 – The first TR book Ed ever read
- 35:30 – The layers of Teddy Roosevelt
- 37:59 – Mark’s next pick, a more recent option
- 42:21 – Ed’s up, with a cliche?
- 47:55 – Bonus rec from Mark
- 50:33 – American Buffalo
- 1:03:03 – Navigating risk outdoors
- 1:07:48 – Pivoting to lighter adventure books
- 1:12:53 – An adventure book by a woman
- 1:17:57 – Mark’s last choice and a caribou conversation
- 1:26:35 – And Ed’s last choice, connecting with mountaineering
- 1:34:45 – Wrapping up
Information Referenced:
- Mark Kenyon
- Mark Kenyon on Instagram
- Ed and Mark’s 10 Conservation Books
- Ed and Mark’s 10 Books about the American West
- Mark’s new role as MeatEater’s Director of Conservation
- Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
- The first book Mark wrote: That Wild Country
- Mark’s OG brand, Wired To Hunt, was focused on deer hunting and is now a MeatEater podcast.
- Mark’s top adventure books: Grizzly Years, A Walk In The Park, The Emerald Mile, Deep Survival (the bonus), American Buffalo, A Walk In The Woods (a rollicking good time), Being Caribou and an extra bonus: Where Mountains Are Nameless
- Doug Peacock
- The Monkey Wrench Gang (Character Hayduke is based on Doug Peacock.)
- Ed interviewing Doug Peacock
- Peacock’s most recent book: Was It Worth It?
- Ed’s top adventure books: The River of Doubt (the first Theodore Roosevelt book he ever read), Endurance, In The Kingdom of Ice, The Way Out, Thirty Below, Kiss or Kill
- Tribe, always.
- NOLS Wilderness Guide
- MeatEater’s history of the fur trade
- Steve Rinella on Netflix
- Devon O’Neill on M&P
- Couple of heavier books to consider: The Adventurer’s Son, Missoula
- At Home, another Bill Bryson pick from Ed.
- Cassidy Randall on M&P
- Heather Hansman on M&P
- The porcupine caribou herd and its population and habitat struggles.
- Henry Rollins, punk rock.
- Mountaineering classics: Into Thin Air, No Shortcuts to the Top
- For more book recs, sign up for Ed’s bi-monthly book recommendations. January’s and February’s are ready.
- North Bridger Bison, supporters of M&P
Enjoy this episode? Then you might like these too:
- Yvon Chouinard – The Perpetual Pursuit of Simplicity
- Hampton Sides Returns: The Wild and Tragic Tale of Captain James Cook
- John Vaillant – A Riveting Exploration of Fire
- Nicholas Triolo – What the Circuitous Path Reveals
- Douglas Brinkley – Exploring the Past to Find Inspiration for the Future
- Helen Rebanks – “The Farmer’s Wife” – Live at the Old Salt Festival
- Sonnie Trotter – On Flow, Family, and the Long Game
- Betsy Gaines Quammen Returns – Myths, Curiosity, and Human Connection (Live at the Old Salt Festival)
- Dr. Sara Dant Returns – “Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West”
- David Gessner Returns – “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World”
Visit the podcast page for a full list of episodes where you can filter episodes by topic and guests’ vocations.
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