Part philosophical treatise and part motorcycle road trip across the northern stretch of the United States and then down to California. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig Steinbeck was 58 when he set out on this journey alone (well, with a dog), which just goes to show that isn’t just for young, aimless, 20-somethings. He had his French poodle Charley in tow throughout his journey through a “New America” that was on the cusp of some great upheaval. Essentially completing a massive circular journey through America. Steinbeck set out on a giant cross country journey from New York, up to Maine, across to the west coast, down to California then across the southern half of the states back east, before venturing back up the East Coast. According to Steinbeck’s son, the real reason for his journey was that he knew he was dying and he wanted to see the country one last time. In September of 1960 John Steinbeck, already a successful author, set out to rediscover an America that he worried he had lost touch with.

Heat-Moon does a great job featuring the lives of the people he meets along the way, a curious cast of characters who live in “those little towns that get on the map-if they get on at all-only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill.” Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck His travels to small-town America show a country on the verge of change with the increasing homogenization through fast-food culture and strip malls. The premise of the book is his travels along the smaller roads, marked blue on the map, and discover small-town America. Heat-Moon set out to put the past behind him by setting out on the open road.

American nomads by richard grant