The Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming is the best regional history book and contains several chapters on Ecuador.Ecuador: Fragile Democracy by David Corkill and David Cubitt looks at historical patterns and modern trends in Ecuadorian politics.No visit to the Galápagos Islands is complete without a peek at the book that put them on the map: Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. A less dated approach to the subject is offered in Darwin for Beginners by Jonathan Miller and Borin Van Loon.Galápagos: A Natural History Guide by Michael H Jackson is the best general guide to the history, geology and plant and animal life of the islands.The exceptional Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator is Edward Whymper's story of the 1880 mountaineering expedition that made eight first ascents of Ecuador's highest peaks.The Panama Hat Trail by Tom Miller is a fun, insightful and informative account of Ecuadorian life disguising itself as a novel about a man in search of Panama hats.Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut is a comic, cautionary, evolutionary tale.