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Around the Matterhorn

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXSWZ20. Buy these 3 items as a set for $49 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Tour of the Matterhorn

Tour of the Matterhorn

by Hilary Sharp

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

A compact guide to the 8-10 day hike around the Matterhorn, as well as shorter variants and peak ascent. With color and black-and-white photos, maps and elevations. (SWZ49, $19.95)

Killing Dragons, The Conquest of the Alps

Killing Dragons, The Conquest of the Alps

by Fergus Fleming

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 398 PAGES

Fleming spins lively tales of man against nature in this entertaining history of the eccentrics, adventurers and publicity-hounds who sought to conquer the Alps, including Whymper and his first ascent of the Matterhorn (where four of the seven-man team perished). (ALP16, $14.00)

Matterhorn Map

Matterhorn Map

by Swiss Government

  • MAP

A topographic map of the Matterhorn, published by the Swiss government at a scale of 1:25,000. (SWZ50, $16.95)

 
Switzerland Southwest 552 Map

Switzerland Southwest 552 Map


by Michelin

  • 2003
  • MAP

A detailed travelers map at a scale 1:200,000, covering from Zurich south to Zermatt and Aosta and across to Geneva. (SWZ34, $8.95)

Insight Guide Switzerland

Insight Guide Switzerland


by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

This handsome guide gives a profusely illustrated overview of Switzerland, featuring concise essays by well-regarded authors on history, politics and culture, as well as hundreds of photos and maps, and some practical information. (SWZ15, $24.99)

La Place de la Concorde Suisse

La Place de la Concorde Suisse


by John McPhee

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 150 PAGES

In the company of a Swiss patrol leader on a training mission, McPhee deploys his usual insight and wonderful prose on the phenomenon of the army of Switzerland. (SWZ14, $16.00)

Why Switzerland?

Why Switzerland?


by Jonathan Steinberg

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 300 PAGES

A masterly overview of the idiosyncrasies of Switzerland, its history, language, politics and identity as a naysayer at the center of Europe. (SWZ04, $37.99)

Eiger Dreams, Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Eiger Dreams, Ventures Among Men and Mountains


by Jon Krakauer

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

A collection of some of Krakauer's (Into Thin Air) best journalism, these stories and essays focus on the mindset and determination of world-class mountaineers, including Alpine and Himalayan climbers. (ALP10, $14.95)

There & Then, Travel Writings of James Salter

There & Then, Travel Writings of James Salter


by James Salter

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES

These sketches and essays cover 20 years of novelist Salter's peripatetic life, particularly his extended time hiking and skiing in the Alps of Switzerland, Austria and France. (ALP28, $15.00)

White Spider, The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger

White Spider, The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger


by Heinrich Harrer

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 364 PAGES

The classic tale of a young climber and the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1938. This edition includes photographs, maps, and a chronology of attempts on the North Face. (ALP09, $15.95)

Hotel du Lac

Hotel du Lac


by Anita Brookner

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 184 PAGES

Funny, stylish and spellbinding, Brookner's novel tracks the story of a romance novelist, not quite finding peace and quiet at the quiet luxury of Hotel du Lac in Switzerland. (SWZ05, $13.95)

The Magic Mountain

The Magic Mountain


by Thomas Mann

  • LITERATURE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 755 PAGES

In this classic novel of ill health in a sanatorium in the Swiss mountains, the author explores disease as a symbol of the sick, capitalistic society of pre-World War I Europe. (SWZ07, $19.00)

The Night Manager

The Night Manager


by John Le Carre

  • LITERATURE
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 473 PAGES

This best-selling, post-Cold War thriller about ruthless arms dealers in Geneva is a gripping read. Carrying on the great Le Carre tradition of espionage, a man who essentially gave up living after a tremendous failure is given a costly shot at redemption. (SWZ06, $7.99)

Birds of Europe

Birds of Europe


by Lars Svensson

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Featuring 3,500 glorious paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom, the second revised edition of this exquisite guide has been brought up to date with revised text and maps. (FG47, $29.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.