Passionate Quests

A quest is a journey in the course of which one advances spiritually and mentally, as well as physically travelling miles. The quester leaves the familiar for the unknown. The nature of the goal may not be clear at first and may only become fully apparent at the end of the quest.
~Robert Irwin
 
There are a lot of reasons to undertake a quest.  The thirst for knowledge and/or experience. Traveling in the footsteps of someone you admire. For spiritual advancement. To push yourself to your limits - to find out what your limits are. Discovery, or self-discovery.  Obsession, plain and simple.

The following are a list of books by and about ordinary people, explorers, naturalists, and adventurers who have pursued their dreams to the ends of the earth, and sometimes to the end of the line.

Meet Me in Atlantis: My Quest to Find the 2,500-Year-Old Sunken City by Mark Adams

Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific By Raft by Thor Heyerdahl

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Planetwalker by John Francis

South With the Sun: Roald Amundsen, His Polar Explorations, and the Quest for Discovery by Lynne Cox

Imperial Dreams: Tracking the Imperial Woodpecker Through the Wild Sierra Madre by Tim Gallagher

Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery - the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick

Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph by Jennifer Pharr Davis

Kingbird Highway: The Story of a Natural Obsession That Got a Little Out of Hand by Kenn Kaufman

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz

The Will to Climb: Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna--The World's Deadliest Peak by Ed Viesturs, with David Roberts

Travels With a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

Adventure Divas: Searching the Globe For a New Kind of Heroine by Holly Morris

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander

In Search of King Solomon's Mines by Tahir Shah

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration as told by Fergus Fleming   

Links

11 Books About Obsessive Searches [New York Times]      

If You Loved 'Wild", Try Reading These 9 Books, Too [Bustle]