Adam Shoalts

Shoalts has made the first descent in recorded history of three different rivers, led expeditions for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, wielded a machete in the Amazon in search of new species, and come face-to-face with polar bears alone on his grueling solo expeditions. Called “Canada’s Indiana Jones” by the Toronto Star, Shoalts was elected a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2013 for “extraordinary contributions to geography” and is a PhD candidate at McMaster University, where his research combines his interest in exploration with scholarly work in geography, archaeology, history, and anthropology. He is the author of Sense of Adventure: An Account of a Journey in the Canadian Wilderness (Cedar Tree Press, 2006) and a forthcoming book on exploring (Penguin Random House, fall 2015). His website is www.adamshoalts.com.