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Want to send my mate a present, he doesnt drink, loves bikes and bike packing, thinking books any tips on some good biking reads?
I find cycling books a bit dull tbh, not many they've really been top drawer.
Anna McNuffs fifty shades of the USA is pretty good, worth a read.
Currently reading Cairngorm John, it's bloody awesome, if he's into the outdoors as you say, he'll like it.
Neither of these are bike related but..
Bothy Bible is a great read and good for adventure inspiration and planning
Into the Wilderness. Just because it’s awesome
@franksinatra have a wee watch of 'hooks' on YouTube, about a fella from darn sarf that sets off on a wee adventure, to fix a hook in every bothy in the UK.
It's low budget stuff, but very good IMO.
Tim Moore's stuff.
Pretty much anything by Dervla Murphy.
The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold, Tim Moore. Also, French Revolutions by same.
Thanks for the tips, keep them coming.
Either or James Rebanks’ books. Not bike based but wonderful writing about The Lakes.
One Man And His Bike, by Mike Carter, is really good - man gets fed up of the rat race and rides his bike around the coast of Britain, as much as you can can.
Apart from that, anything by Dr Hutch (apart maybe from Recycle) - The Hour, Faster and Hello Sailor (about sailing, rather than bikes - may now have a different name) are all extraordinarily good and laugh-out-loud funny.
Second One Man And His Bike, just finished reading it, really enjoyed it and nice to see his descriptions of bit of coast that I know
This is a really interesting read. The story of the transformation of Team GB cycling from literally nothing (Chris Boardman was packed off to Barcelona with his bike and his dad as his ‘team’)to all those Olympic golds.

+1 for everything by Richard Moore.
bookmarked
Recently read the hungry cyclist after seeing it recommended on here. Good read but perhaps only if he's a bit of a foodie.
These are at the inspirational end (and are beautifuLly photographed) but have plenty of bikepacking tales by the likes of Cass Gilbert, Lael Wilcox, Rob Penn etc.
Epic Bike Rides of Europe:
Epic Bike Rides of the World:
And no I can't do the linky thing. Sorry!
Hmm, that's interesting, it's added covers automatically from Amazon, though the second one is wrong and the links don't work!? Anyway, you get the idea.
I was given this book as a Christmas pressy, and I think it absolutely fits the OP’s requirements:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Riding-Zone-Rouge-Battlefields-Toughest-Ever/dp/1409171140/ref=nodl_
The author rode as much of the original race route as possible which fits the bike-packing bit, but the descriptions of the conditions the riders of the original race faced are astonishing, as are the amounts of drugs ingested!
How about the Rough Stuff Fellowship archive book? Some lovely pictures of back in the day bike-packing and proto-mountain biking.