If you only had one life and a single chance; if you could do anything, what would you do?

That’s the question Scott Stoll asked himself one day a few years ago. His answer turned out to be a 42,000km bike tour around the world. Scott records the experiences, questions, lessons and reflections from the trip in his book, Falling Uphill.

Scott’s book, Falling Uphill, set against a map of his journey.

It was the audio version of Scott’s book that accompanied us to Spain. As we listened to it in our tent at night, Falling Uphill took us on a journey far greater than the 1,000km we were cycling around Andalucia at the time.

We quickly discovered that Falling Uphill is not only about sharing funny and colourful stories from a bike trip around the world. It’s also a soul-searching book full of reflections and observations on human nature and the philosophy of life.

Sounds deep? It is. Expect this book to get you thinking, rather than reading quickly and flipping from one page to the next.

That said, Scott also makes these big topics more approachable by breaking the book up into the questions that all of us tend to ask. It starts with practical queries like Where are you going? and Do your legs ever get tired? before moving to more emotional and spiritual questions such as Did your trip change you? and How does it feel to cycle around the world?

We loved this book, even if sometimes it kept us awake in our tent rather than helping us get to sleep! Everytime we listened to a chapter, we wanted to talk with one other, comparing the experiences and feelings Scott had on his trip with our own.

This is the kind of book you’ll enjoy if you want to hear not only about the stories of the physical adventure but also consider the deeper emotional and philosophical side of a journey. There are some lessons in Falling Uphill for everyone, even if you’re not cycling around the world.

To give you a taste of the Falling Uphill, here’s Chapter 25: Would you please visit my family?