Why am I passionate about this?

As a travel writer, author, broadcaster, speaker, and producer, I’ve reported from over 100 countries on 7 continents for major print and digital publications worldwide and networks like National Geographic and Travel Channel.  I kicked off my career with a solo, 12-month round-the-world backpacking adventure, largely inspired by the formative books I read below. Embracing the world with insatiable curiosity, an open heart, an open mind, a sense of humour, and enthusiasm to share my stories clearly resonated. Here I am, two decades later, author of a half-dozen bestselling books that focus on my own eclectic travels, which will hopefully inspire others as these books inspired me.  


I wrote

The Great Global Bucket List

By Robin Esrock,

Book cover of The Great Global Bucket List

What is my book about?

My book is a collection of essays and experiences from my first decade of travel writing, in which I visit…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of On the Road

Robin Esrock Why did I love this book?

A deserved, all-time classic, this book seems to transcend time to capture the spirit of wanderlust. I was young and impressionable when I read it for the first time, and it inspired a sense of profound restlessness to explore, grow, and hit the road to see for myself. 

Neal Cassidy and Jack Kerouac are wild, occasionally unhinged protagonists, and their journey consists of hustling, romance, and drinking their way to a good time. Kerouac’s writing made me long for similar misadventures, where life is simple and finding the road is all that matters. Subversively, the novel promotes a full life and whole human experience, which makes working 9 to 5 that much more difficult.

By Jack Kerouac,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked On the Road as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The legendary novel of freedom and the search for authenticity that defined a generation, now in a striking new Pengiun Classics Deluxe Edition

Inspired by Jack Kerouac's adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naivete and wild ambition and imbued with Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed…


Book cover of Endurance

Robin Esrock Why did I love this book?

This book made me want to visit Antarctica, and when I finally did, I read it again.

There are a few things going on here:  an insane adventure with a daring mission that defies the odds through incredible hardships; an introduction to that sparse, frozen continent that has long captivated the imagination; and a cosmic dissonance knowing modern travellers can visit such a harsh, unforgiving place today with the comfort of hot tubs, cocktail bars, and gourmet buffets.

Learning about the history of polar exploration makes your own journey that much more meaningful. 

By Alfred Lansing,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked Endurance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day's sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. For ten months the ice-moored Endurance drifted northwest before it was finally crushed between two ice floes. With no options left, Shackleton and a skeleton crew attempted a near-impossible…


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Book cover of The Stark Beauty of Last Things

The Stark Beauty of Last Things By Céline Keating,

This book is set in Montauk, under looming threat from a warming climate and overdevelopment. Now outsider Clancy, a thirty-six-year-old claims adjuster scarred by his orphan childhood, has inherited an unexpected legacy: the power to decide the fate of Montauk’s last parcel of undeveloped land. Everyone in town has a…

Book cover of Magicians of the Gods

Robin Esrock Why did I love this book?

You don’t find the right book; sometimes, it finds you.

I stumbled upon a Graham Hancock lecture in the early 1990s, and he came across as reasonable, sincere, well-researched, and highly intelligent. Reading his books–which occupy the realm between history, travelogue, and science–inspired me to visit South America and Ethiopia. They also inspired me to keep an open mind and chase new ideas.

Decades later, with a hit Netflix series under his belt, Hancock gets a lot of flak for his theories of alternative archeology and history, but his popular books continue to challenge popular wisdom while providing curious readers a literary ticket to exotic destinations. 

By Graham Hancock,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Magicians of the Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With over 5 million copies sold worldwide of Fingerprints of the Gods, its New York Times bestselling sequel Magicians of the Gods brings new evidence supporting Hancock's thesis that a global cataclysm wiped out a great global civilization.

On the heels of the very successful hardcover edition, Hancock returns with this paperback version including three new chapters brimming with recent reporting of fresh scientific advances (ranging from DNA to astrophysics) that substantially support his case.

Twenty years ago, Graham Hancock published Fingerprints of the Gods an astonishing, deeply controversial investigation of the mysteries of and the evidence for Earth's lost…


Book cover of Jitterbug Perfume

Robin Esrock Why did I love this book?

Nobody writes like Tom Robbins, although admittedly, his wild wit, metaphorical overkill, and commitment to not taking anything too seriously might not appeal to everyone.

Put me on a long train ride or a slow ship with a worn paperback copy of any of his books, and I can happily lose myself in his zany, funny, thought-provoking, and sexy world. Exotic locations are baked into most of his books, and you can burn your retinas on each page’s creative flair.

Put down this book, and you’ll never look at beets, immortality, or life in quite the same way again. Tom Robbins inspired me to read more, write more, and, most importantly, live more.  

By Tom Robbins,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Jitterbug Perfume as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is…


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Book cover of Me and The Times: My wild ride from elevator operator to New York Times editor, columnist, and change agent (1967-97)

Me and The Times By Robert W. Stock,

Me and The Times offers a fresh perspective on those pre-internet days when the Sunday sections of The New York Times shaped the country’s political and cultural conversation. Starting in 1967, Robert Stock edited seven of those sections over 30 years, innovating and troublemaking all the way.

His memoir is…

Book cover of Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry

Robin Esrock Why did I love this book?

Mass tourism is a funny world, and occasionally it deserves to be skewered with a wink and a smile. This tongue-in-cheek satire is so sharp I continue to cut my fingers on its pages, instantly recognizing the absurdity of some of my own adventures in Eastern and Central Europe.

This Spinal Tap for guidebooks looks at fictional hotels, towns, food, and activities. There are also follow-up guidebooks, one that roasts a mythical Southeast Asian country in a similar fashion and another that pokes fun at a fictional yet familiar country in Latin America.

Veteran travellers, and especially backpackers, will have a riot. 

By Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Molvania as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Presents description of imaginary country in Eastern Europe, with humorous travel tips on hotels, eating out, and visiting fictitious tourist sites.


Explore my book 😀

The Great Global Bucket List

By Robin Esrock,

Book cover of The Great Global Bucket List

What is my book about?

My book is a collection of essays and experiences from my first decade of travel writing, in which I visit over 100 countries on 7 continents in search of truly unique and extraordinary experiences.

Beautifully illustrated and designed to inspire all ages and interests, I visit the iconic (Galapagos, the Amazon, Antarctica), the quirky (bone churches, mud volcanoes, burial caves), and the unforgettable (ancient ruins, wild festivals, starlit deserts). Threaded throughout is a personal reflection on what I discover, who I meet, and why these destinations and activities matter–whether you explore them on the ground or in your armchair. There’s a big world waiting to be explored, and we don’t know what’s awaiting us around the corner, so… what are you waiting for? 

Book cover of On the Road
Book cover of Endurance
Book cover of Magicians of the Gods

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