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 find a link in the show notes and sign up if you're interested.

Thanks so much for listening!

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Mark Kenyon on Instagram
Ed and Mark's 10 Conservation Books
Ed and Mark's 10 Books about the American West
Ed's Bimonthly Book Recommendations
Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/adventure-books

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Mountain & Prairie is listener-supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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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

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