Arnie Weissmann
There has been a bumper crop of travel-related books that came to my attention this year, and if your holiday gift list includes travel colleagues and/or clients, there are several volumes that you'll want to consider as the festive season approaches.
I've already written about a few of them: Royal Caribbean Group chairman and former CEO Richard Fain's memoir "Delivering the Wow"; Calvin Stovall Jr.'s "Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era"; and Edward Mady and Taylor Scott's new books on hospitality ("Honing the Human Edge" and "Give Hospitality," respectively).
But there are more. Of those holding special interest to people in the travel industry are "Trail Blazing the Unknown: An Adventurous Life" (Wanderlust Consulting, 2024) by Leo Le Bon and "Staying on Track: Lessons from a Customer-Focused Travel Disruptor" by Frank Marini (Damianos Publishing, 2024).
Le Bon's claim to be "the godfather of adventure travel" is well-founded. The book chronicles his personal adventures and the founding of his company, Mountain Travel, which launched in 1966 with an organized trek through Nepal's Annapurna mountains. It's a combination autobiography, business book and travel guide, recounting his many extraordinary adventures, the arc of his company and details about the places he visited that would still interest a traveler journeying there today.
Railbookers CEO Marini's slim volume is a brisk and informative read about how a focus on customers and technology can transform a business, from product development to marketing to the customer experience. Using Railbookers as the testing ground for his ideas, he connects how applied theory led to the company's extraordinary growth before, during and after the pandemic.
There are also new releases related to both adventure and rail that will appeal to avid travelers as well as industry insiders.
Complementing Le Bon's "adventurous life" is "The Explorers Club Presents Letters from the Edge: Stories of Curiosity, Bravery and Discovery" by Jeff Wilser (Crown Publishing Group, 2025). Using actual correspondence written by the people profiled in the book as a thread to connect each chapter, Wilser tells the tales of 45 members of the Explorers Club, including familiar names like polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott, President Teddy Roosevelt, astronaut Jim Lovell, journalist Lowell Thomas and astronomer Carl Sagan. But also included are the stories of lesser-known adventurers, including some who have written for Travel Weekly, such as J.R. Harris, Justin Fornal and, in the spirit of full disclosure, myself.
And while Marini's business-focused book about a rail-centric travel company may not be for every consumer, Everett Potter's "100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime: The World's Ultimate Rides" (National Geographic, 2025) will appeal even to those in an armchair at home rather than occupying a seat in a Venice Simplon-Orient-Express club car.
This was a labor of love for Potter, who has written about travel in National Geographic for the past 15 years. Beautifully illustrated with photos -- it is, after all, published by National Geographic -- the book details exciting train journeys on six continents. (Exciting, but not always glamorous. Yes, the various Orient-Expresses are included, but so is the narrow-gauge, no-frills Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. I can attest to the accuracy of his description of it as a "joyride.")
"South America, an Anthology of Travel Writing," edited by Celia Dillow (Bradt Travel Guides, 2025), is a terrific collection of essays about that continent, some excerpted from previously published books, some never before published. Organized by country, its 43 brief entries include Jan Morris on Bolivia, Teddy Roosevelt and Michael Palin writing about Brazil, David Attenborough's take on Paraguay, Hiram Bingham's view of Peru, Charles Darwin in Uruguay and Christopher Isherwood exploring Venezuela.
Incidentally, that book's publisher will also premiere the first new guidebook on Afghanistan in 20 years next February when it releases "Afghanistan" by tour operator Untamed Borders founder James Wilcox (with Dana Facaros).
One of the more interesting guidebooks that came to my attention this year is "African Venice: A Guide to Art, Culture and People" (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2025) by Paul Kaplan and Shaul Bassi. Thanks to Venetian Marco Polo, one might associate Asia with that city more frequently than its nearest continental neighbor, Africa, but evidence of Africa and African influence on Venice is detailed in this 263-page book. It's both a practical guidebook for those visiting the city and a fascinating read on its own.
Eleanor Hamby and Dr. Sandra Hazelip gained social media fame by proving that you don't have to be under 40 to become a working digital nomad. After meeting as widowed empty nesters, they bonded and, now great-grandmothers in their 80s, they mix travel, work, exploration and social media (Hamby is a photo documentarian, Hazelip is a geriatrician). Their book, "Here We Go: Lessons for Living Fearlessly from Two Traveling Nanas," (Viking, 2025) written with Elisa Petrini, is a joy.