This month's contributor is  Tom Thumb is the author of "Hand to Mouth to India" and founder along with Jim Klee of Roadjunky.com. Thumb claims, "In an age of consumer travel and guide books that repeat the same old tired cliches and platitudes, Road Junky was founded to put the spirit back into travel, encountering the world anew with the spirit of gonzo journalism, writing about travel with a highly subjective voice." Check it out at RoadJunky.com. Here is Thumb's selection of best travel books followed by those he deems most influential in inspiring a generation to travel.

Dark Star Safari - By Paul Theroux Theroux travels overland from Cairo to Capetown in search of the real Africa that the news just doesn't cover. A modern travel classic. Get it From:	Dispatches - By Michael Herr The only book about Vietnam you'll ever need to read. A must for any budding travel writer.   Get it From:
Hand to Mouth to India - Tom Thumb   Get it From:	Deccan Tamasha - Robin Brown Get it From:
Arabian Sands - By Wilfred Thesiger Legendary tale of 5 years with the Bedouin in the desert. Get it From:	In Baghdad Without a Map - Tony Horwitz   Get it From:
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah - Richard Burton Get it From:	Hashish - By Henry de Monfreid He doesn't know what hashish is yet but is determined to smuggle it from Greece to Egypt in his small boat. A classic. Get it From:
Gulliver's Travels - Johnathan Swift Get it From:
Travelogues that inspired a generation to travel
Papillon - By Henri de Charriere The epic true story of a man who escaped from the penal colonies in South America a dozen times before getting free. Get it From:	The Motorcycle Diaries The film directed by Walter Salles, depicts young Che Guevara touring South America on an ancient Norton motorbike. Get it From:
Paddle to the Amazon - By Don Starkell 12,000+ mile canoe journey from Canada to the Amazon River. Get it From:	Adrift - By Steve Callahan Seventy-six days lost at sea in the Atlantic. Fire yourself up a plate of raw bird and dig in. Get it From:
The Pillars of Hercules - By Paul Theroux Travels around the Mediterranean through the vulgar, the war-torn and the beautiful. Get it From:	First Footsteps in East Africa - By Richard Burton - A 19th century travel legend, Burton endeavours to become the first white man to enter the forbidden city of Harar in Somalia.  Get it From:
Marco Polo's Travels - By Marco Polo The Old Man of the Mountains, Kublai Khan's concubines and the birth of sex tourism?  Get it From:	Heart of Darkness - By Joseph Conrad Perhaps the greatest travel novel, a masterpiece on the inner journey that accompanies the outer travels.  Get it From:
In An Antique Land - By Amitav Ghosh In a leisurely blend of travelogue, history and cross-cultural analysis, Indian writer Ghosh reconstructs a 12th-century master-slave relationship that confounds modern concepts of slavery.  Get it From:	A Book of Traveller's Tales - Compiled by Eric Newby - Travel stories from conquistadores, missionaries, beatniks and wanderers from all corners of the world. Get it From: