Brush up on the country's past with BR Rafael's A Short History of Malawi.If you think impalas are just cars, pick up Jonathan Kingdon's Field Guide to African Mammals.Anyone planning to spot some of Malawi's many feathered friends will want Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, by Gordon Lindsay - though Newman's Birds of Southern Africa and Newman's Malawi Supplement, by Kenneth Newman, are more portable.Malawi Wildlife, Parks and Reserves, by Judy Carter, is concise and informative, though larger and harder to find than Malawi's National Parks & Game Reserves, by John Hough.Tim Jeal's Livingstone is one of the best books on the Scottish missionary.Two excellent guides, locally produced, are Day Outings from Lilongwe and Day Outings from Blantyre.The Traveller's Literary Companion to Africa, edited by Oona Strathern, is the best place to start reading Malawian writers.South African writer Laurens van der Post's novel Venture to the Interior has good descriptions of the workings of the British colonial administration.Paul Theroux's Jungle Lovers is a light and humourous take on 1960s Malawi culture and politics - not light enough for dictatorial leader Hastings Banda, though, who later banned the author.