The city is much more than a charming backdrop for a Rembrandt or a safe haven for oldest-profession debauchery. Dutch journalist Mak tells the 800-year story of the city in a manner that's less history tome and more soap opera—in an erudite kind of way. Translated by Philippe Blom.

Although Dalrymple spent only 12 months in Delhi, his tour covers some 3,000 years—from the ancient (temples, palaces, despots) to curses of the modern (ubiquitous pigeons and insane taxi drivers). Part archaeological dig, part travelogue, this book is equal parts authoritative and fun, as is his In Xanadu.

When Wearing decided to travel through Iran with a male companion—in the guise of a honeymooning couple—she raised a few eyebrows. She also blasted through Western notions of Iran as an anti-American warren of fanatical repression to reveal, instead, a place of compassionate, philosophical people. More cause for the raising of eyebrows in light of recent headlines?

Here's where travel becomes, perhaps, too adventurous: Thrill-seeking, hilarious O'Hanlon takes a four-month river trip and trek in the jungles of Venezuela, a buggy, shadowy, prehistoric-seeming netherworld. The result? An illuminating diary of the jungle's wildlife and people.

At the beginning of this axle-smashing road-trip tale is a map depicting Jones's insane route from Tangier to Cape Town, which she undertook in a blue 1980 Land Rover. Her mission was to find the Lovedu people (a tribe guided by "feminine" principles), which she accomplishes in this eye-popping adventure tale.