Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac (1991, Paperback, Reissue)

on the road may be the best and most popular book my kerouac, but dharma bums is my favorite. the reason is i can identify with the main character (Jahphy Ryder) and his haiku, bihku, and mountain climbing ways. i read this book about once a year to help center me. kerouac is a drunken bum livin in near the berkely campus in san francisco, he becomes friends with gary snyder (japhy) and gary shows kerouac the great outdoors of the american west. snyder helps put kerouac on a closer path to enlightment through mountain climbing in california and fire tower job in washington. the book spawns two other kerouac novels, "The Lonesome Traveler" and "Desolation Angels" both books are a continuation of the dharma for Kerouac as he soul searches himself on the highways and mountains of this great nation

The Dharma Bums is a great book and I would strongly recommend it to everyone who loves travel novels. It's a fairly easy read and not overwhelmingly long.