Peru

A Neotropical Companion , Kricher, Plotkin
Maybe the best book for an overall education about the Amazon ecosystem

A Guide to the Birds of Columbia. , Hilty, Brown
The best book for identifying birds in Peru

Photographic Guide To Birds of Peru

The Cities of the Ancient Andes , Adriana Von Hagen, Craig Morris, Adriana Von Hagen, Raig Morris

Warriors of the Clouds: A Lost Civilization in the Upper Amazon of Peru , Keith Muscutt (hardcover)
A good introduction to the areas we visit on our Lost Cities trips and on some of our expeditions. A truly unique area.

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest , Mark Plotkin
A good book of adventure and an insight into what should be done to save ethnobotanical knowledge.

Amazon Beaming , Petru Popescu
An account of a respected National Geographic photographer's experience with a tribe of Mayoruna Indians. He felt that this tribe, which had been thought to be extinct, used telepathic communication to communicate with him.

The Moche (Peoples of America) , Garth Bawden

The Myths and Religion of the Incas: An illustrated encyclopedia of the gods, myths and legends of the Incas, Paracas, Nasca, Moche, Wari, Chimu and other ... 240 fine art illustrations and photographs

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden : My Adventures on Ampato, Johan Reinhard

The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru , Nigel Davies

Amazon Dream, Roberta Allen

Brazil

1. Natural History
Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America
A Neotropical Companion , Kricher, Plotkin

2. Field Guides
Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, Emmons, Louise H. 1997, University of Chicago Press
A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela, Schauensee, R.M. & Phelps, W.H. Jr 1978, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press. (Best guide in English to the birds of the Eastern Amazon)
Latin American Insects and Entomology, Charles Hogue, University of California Press, Berkely, 1993
Birds of Tropical America, Hilty, Steve, Chapters Publishing Ltd., Shelborne, Vermont, 1994

3. General Guides
Insight Guide Amazon Wildlife (Insight Guides Amazon Wildlife)

4. Travels
White Waters and Black, MacCreagh, Gordon, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1985 (first published 1926)
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)

5. Children.s Publications
The Great Kapok Tree, Cherry, Lynne, 1990, Orlando, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

6. Accounts of Amazon Travels
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)
In Trouble Again, O’Hanlon, Redmond, 1988, New York, The Atlantic Monthly Press
Brazilian Adventure, Fleming, Peter, 1961, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company
White Waters and Black, MacCreagh, Gordon, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1985 (first published 1926)
The Rivers Amazon, Shoumatoff, Alex, 1978, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco
Cloud Forest (Classic, Nature, Penguin) , Peter Matthiessen, 1961

7. Tropical Forest Descriptions
Tropical Nature, Forsyth, Adrian, 1984, Macmillan Publishing Company
Neotropical Companion, Kricher, Princeton University Press, 1990
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Wallace, Russell Alfred, 1853, London, Reeve and Co. (Dover reprint 1889 edition)
The High Frontier, Moffett, Mark, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993

8. Rainforest Issues
Alternatives to Deforestation, Anderson, Anthony, ed., Columbia University Press, New York, 1990
The Fate of the Forest, Hecht, Susanna., Verso Publ, 1989
The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future, Myers, Norman, 1984, New York, W.W. Norton Press
The World is Burning, Shoumatoff, Alex, Avon Books, New York, 1990
Dreams of Amazonia, Stone, Roger D., Penguin Travel Series, 1985

9. Intro to Amazon Studies and Tropical Ecology
Diversity and the Tropical Rain Forest, Terborgh, John, Scientific American Library. 1992.
Life Above the Jungle Floor, Perry, Donald, Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Mabberley, D.J., 2nd Edition, Blackie & Son Ltd., London 1992
An Introduction to Tropical Rainforests, Whitmore, T.C., Oxford University Press, New York, 1990
Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise; Meggers, B.J. 1971, Chicago, Aldine Publ. Co.
The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner, Alfred Knopf, New York, 1994 [an excellent outline of the processes of biological evolution]
The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson, The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, 1992

10. History and Natural History of the Brazilian Amazon
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)
The Discovery of the Amazon, Medina, J.T. ed., 1988, New York, Dover Publications,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Roosevelt, Theodore. 1914, New York.
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Wallace, Russel Alfred, 1853, London, Reeve and Co. (Dover reprint 1889 edition)
The Amazon Rubber Boom 1850-1920, Weinstein, B. 1983, Stanford, Stanford Univ. Press
Explorers of the Amazon, Smith, Anthony, 1990, Viking Penguin, Inc., New York
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

10. Development and the Peoples of the Amazon
Assault on the Amazon, Bourne, R. 1978, London, Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Tribes of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Brooks, E.; Furerst,R., Hemming, J. & Huxley, F., 1973, London, C. Knight
People of the Tropical Rain Forest, Denslow, J.S. & Padoch, C. 1988, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, U. of Cal Press, with the Smithsonian Institution
Victims of the Miracle: Development and the Indians of Brazil, Davis, S. 1977,.
A Question of Survival For the Indians of Brazil , Hanbury-Tenison, R. 1973, London, Angus and Robertson
The Dilemma Of Amazonian Development (Westview special studies on Latin America and the Caribbean) , Moran, E.F. (ed.)
Shabono: A Visit to a Remote and Magical World in the South American Rain Forest , Florinda Donner, 1992

11.Plants and Animals
South American Land Birds: A Photographic Aid to Identification , John S. Dunning, 1987
A Guide to the Birds of Columbia. , Hilty, Brown
A Guide to the Birds of South America , Schauensee,
Insects of an Amazon Forest , Penny, Norman D. and Arias, Jorge R., Columbia University Press, 1982, New York
Butterflies of South America , D’Abrera, Bernard, Hill House, 1984
Exotic Tropical Fishes , Axelrod, Herbert, R., T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey, 1985
The Encyclopedia of Snakes

14. Medicinal Plants of the Amazon
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest

15. The Culture of Brazil
The Brazilians , Page, Joseph,

Ecuador

 

Amazonia
Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America
A Neotropical Companion , Kricher, Plotkin

Anthropology
Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle Descola, Philippe. The New Press, 1996. Currently the BEST BOOK about the Achuar.
The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls . Harner, Michael, J. University of California Press Ltd. 1984.
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Bollingen Series (General)) .

 The Birds of Ecuador, Vol. 2: Field Guide

Field Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos
Harris, M.P., Collins, 1974. The best guide for birding on the Islands.

Flora of the Galapagos Islands
Duncan, M., Wiggins, I., Standford University Press, 1971. By far the best and most complete book about the plants of the Galapagos.

Galapagos, A Natural History Guide
Jackson, M.H., The University of Calgary Press, 1990. Definitely the best introductory book about the Galapagos.

Reef Fish Identification: Galapagos
Humann, P., New word publications/Libri Mundi, and 1993. A serious guide for both snorkelers and divers.

The Galapagos Affair
Theherne, J.E. Jonathan Cape. If you are interested on the mysterious stories of Floreana, this is the book.

The Origin of Species
Darwin, C., John Murray, 1859. Although not very easy to read, this book introduces you into Darwin’s concept of evolution.

The Voyage of Beagle
Darwin, C., John Murray, 1845. The story of the voyage that changed the mind of the young Darwin, with a section about the Galapagos.

 

Argentina

"The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas " - Paul Theroux - Penguin Travel

" In Patagonia (Penguin Classics) " - Bruce Chatwin - Penguin Travel

" Far Away and Long Ago: A History of My Early Life " - W. H. Hudson - Lyons & Burford, Publishers. NY

" Idle Days in Patagonia (Dodo Press) " - W. H. Hudson - El Calafate Editores, Argentina

" The Invention of Argentina " - Nicholas Shumway - University of California Press.

" The Indians of Tierra Del Fuego: An Account of the Ona, Yahgan, Alacaluf and Haush Natives of the Fuegian Archipelago " - Samuel Kirkland Lothrop - Zagier & Urruty Publications

" The Captive in Patagonia: Or Life Among the Giants " - Benjamin Franklin Bourne - Zagier & Urruty Publications

"Three Men of the Beagle " (Tres hombres a bordo del Beagle) - Richard Lee Marks
In Spanish - Javier Vergara Editores.