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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 EXSWZ36. Buy these 4 items as a set for $63 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Eyewitness Guide Switzerland

Eyewitness Guide Switzerland

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 328 PAGES

A compact, thoroughly illustrated guide, featuring over 900 photographs, good maps, and plenty of information on hiking in the Swiss Alps, natural and tourist attractions, and the history and arts of Switzerland. (SWZ45, $25.00)

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)

Quest for the Sublime, Finding Nature's Secret in Switzerland

Quest for the Sublime, Finding Nature's Secret in Switzerland

by Richard Bangs

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 260 PAGES
  • CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
    • >

Richard Bangs revisits the Swiss Alps, following the likes of Byron, Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth in an attempt to grasp the Sublime. (SWZ66, $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)

 
Culture Smart! Switzerland

Culture Smart! Switzerland


by Kendall Maycock

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

A concise, no-nonsense guide to Switzerland's customs, etiquette and culture. (SWZ58, $9.95)

Michelin Green Guide Switzerland

Michelin Green Guide Switzerland


by Michelin Travel Publications

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

A survey of the cities, villages and sites of Switzerland in the classic Michelin style. (SWZ17, $21.99)

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)

Alpine Views, Alexandre Calame and the Swiss Landscape


by Alberto de Andres

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 88 PAGES

The exhibition catalog to an exhibition at the Clark, this book showcases 26 dramatic oil paintings and sketches of the picturesque Alps. Calame (1810-1864) was the leading artist of the Swiss school of alpine painting. (SWZ67, $19.95)

A Tramp Abroad

A Tramp Abroad


by Mark Twain | David Eggers | Kerry Driscoll

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Written 11 years after Innocents Abroad, this is Twain's second foray into European travel. Filled with his characteristic wit and humorous observations, it documents his journeys through Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. Now with an introduction by Dave Eggers. (EUR78, $14.95)

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)

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)

Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860-69

Scrambles Amongst the Alps: In the Years 1860-69


by Edward Whymper

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Edward Wymper's vivid account of Victorian-era mountaineering, a classic, captures the geography, beauty and allure of the Alps. (ALP02, $16.00)

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)

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms


by Ernest Hemingway

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 332 PAGES

Set in snowy Switzerland and the rainy Italian Lake Country during World War I, this semi-autobiographical novel chronicles the romance between a British nurse and an American ambulance driver. (ITL384, $16.00)

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax


by Dorothy Gilman

  • MYSTERY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

A secret agent like no other, feisty grandmother Mrs. Pollifax goes to Switzerland to track down a missing package of plutonium -- just enough to make a small atomic bomb. Fourth in the series. (SWZ65, $7.99)

Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller


by Henry James

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 126 PAGES

A classic story of a young American woman's innocent flirtation and its misinterpretation by a sophisticated European man, set in Lac Leman and Chillon. This is James' first fictional work to gain mass popularity and one of his great American female portraits. (SWZ09, $7.00)

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)

Selected Stories


by Robert Walser

  • LITERATURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 252 PAGES

Forty-two stories, journal entries, fragments and notes by the neglected Swiss modernist. (SWZ62, $14.95)

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)

Glacier Ice

Glacier Ice


by Austin Post | Edward R. LaChapelle

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 145 PAGES

A classic book of extraordinary black-and-white aerial photographs of mountains and glaciers by two devoted men of ice. Ed LaChapelle's text is paired with Austin Post's stunning aerial photographs of glaciers from Alaska and Chile to Switzerland, the Himalayas and other parts of the world. (SCI07, $27.95)

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.