Alone Against the North
An Expedition into the Unknown
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Narrated by:
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Adam Shoalts
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By:
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Adam Shoalts
About this listen
Winner of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario's 2016 Young Authors Award
Winner of the 2017 Louise de Kiriline Award for Nonfiction
The age of exploration is not over.
When Adam Shoalts ventured into the largest unexplored wilderness on the planet, he hoped to set foot where no one had ever gone before. What he discovered surprised even him.
Shoalts was no stranger to the wilderness. He had hacked his way through jungles and swamp, had stared down polar bears and climbed mountains. But one spot on the map called out to him irresistibly: the Hudson Bay Lowlands, a trackless expanse of muskeg and lonely rivers, caribou and wolf - an Amazon of the north, parts of which to this day remain unexplored.
Cutting through this forbidding landscape is a river no explorer, trapper, or canoeist had left any record of paddling. It was this river that Shoalts was obsessively determined to explore.
It took him several attempts, and years of research. But finally, alone, he found the headwaters of the mysterious river. He believed he had discovered what he had set out to find. But the adventure had just begun. Unexpected dangers awaited him downstream.
Gripping and often poetic, Alone Against the North is a classic adventure story of single-minded obsession, physical hardship, and the restless sense of wonder that every explorer has in common.
But what does exploration mean in an age when satellite imagery of even the remotest corner of the planet is available to anyone with a phone? Is there anything left to explore?
What Shoalts discovered as he paddled downriver was a series of unmapped waterfalls that could easily have killed him. Just as astonishing was the media reaction when he got back to civilization. He was crowned “Canada’s Indiana Jones” and appeared on morning television. He was feted by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and congratulated by the Governor General. People were enthralled by Shoalts’s proof that the world is bigger than we think.
Shoalts’s story makes it clear that the world can become known only by getting out of our cars and armchairs, and setting out into the unknown, where every step is different from the one before, and something you may never have imagined lies around the next curve in the river.
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Critic reviews
Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Young Authors Award: Winner
2017 Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award for English Non-Fiction: Winner
“Adam Shoalts is Canada’s Indiana Jones—portaging in the north, dodging scary rapids, plunging into darkness, and surviving to tell the tale.” —Toronto Star
“While the book is a nail-biting chronicle of polar-bear encounters, brutal swarms of black flies and surprise tumbles down waterfalls, Shoalts also vividly describes an area of the country most of us will never witness.” —Metro (Toronto)
"Explorer Adam Shoalts's remarkable solo foray into the quietly dangerous and mysterious Hudson Bay Lowlands is the kind of incredible effort that fosters legends." —The Winnipeg Free Press
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Life Lived Wild
- Adventures at the Edge of the Map (Patagonia)
- By: Rick Ridgeway
- Narrated by: Rick Ridgeway
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes, “to distinguish matters of consequence from matters of inconsequence.” He leaves it to his listeners to do the final sort of which is which.
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The hypocrisy and boasting ego. Blood boiling.
- By Amazon Customer on 12-30-21
By: Rick Ridgeway
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In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond
- In Search of the Sasquatch
- By: John Zada
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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On the central and north coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, containing more organic matter than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. The area plays host to a wide range of species, from thousand-year-old western cedars to humpback whales to iconic white Spirit bears. According to local residents, another giant is said to live in these woods.
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Not a relatable book
- By RJK on 07-14-19
By: John Zada
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Wilderness Essays
- By: John Muir
- Narrated by: Steven Brand
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Part of John Muir's appeal to modern audiences is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Here collected are some of Muir's finest wilderness essays, ranging in subject matter from Alaska to Yellowstone, from Oregon to the High Sierra.
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Beautiful writing, but fairly shallow narrative
- By Lauren on 07-26-20
By: John Muir
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The Man Who Walked Through Time
- The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Colin Fletcher
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1963 Colin Fletcher became the first man to walk the length of Grand canyon, below the Rim. It began with a dream, when he and a friend detoured from a cross-country trip to take a hurried look at the great natural wonder. Standing on the Rim, surrounded by the profound and almost mystical silence, Fletcher knew that something had happened to the way he looked at things. He also knew that the Canyon, with its depths and distances, cliffs, buttes, and hanging terraces, beckoned to him, calling him on a journey that would challenge both his body and his mind.
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Eloquent
- By Bill J on 07-20-20
By: Colin Fletcher
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The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah
- Two Mountaineering Classics
- By: David Roberts, Jon Krakauer - foreword
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The publication of The Mountain of My Fear in 1968 and Deborah in 1970 changed the face of the mountaineering narrative. Now these two classic expedition narratives by acclaimed writer David Roberts are together again in one volume for a new generation of readers.
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An honest look into why people climb mountains
- By Kyra Rhodes on 05-19-21
By: David Roberts, and others
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Microadventures
- Local Discoveries for Great Escapes
- By: Alastair Humphreys
- Narrated by: Alastair Humphreys
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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So whats a microadventure? Its close to home, cheap, simple, short and 100 percent guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours. The point of a microadventure is that you don't need lots of time and money to meet a new challenge. This practical guide is filled with ideas for microadventures for you to experience on your own or with friends and family, plus tips and advice on safety and kit.
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Inspiring!
- By Peter Marshall on 10-19-19
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Canoeing with the Cree
- A 2,250-mile voyage from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay
- By: Eric Sevareid
- Narrated by: John Farrell
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1930, two novice paddlers - Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port - launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe from the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages.
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Seems like an abridged version
- By Angela on 12-31-09
By: Eric Sevareid
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Empire of Ice and Stone
- The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame. Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in around her. As the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again.
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Great adventure story
- By Elaine McCollough on 01-06-23
By: Buddy Levy
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Island of the Lost
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave inspires his men to take action.
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One of the Best Stories Ever Told!
- By Tiffany on 04-10-16
By: Joan Druett
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Atlas of a Lost World
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of Apocalyptic Planet, an unsparing, vivid, revelatory travelogue through prehistory that traces the arrival of the First People in North America 20,000 years ago and the artifacts that enable us to imagine their lives and fates. This book upends our notions of where these people came from and who they were.
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Blaaaa
- By Josh NJ on 07-26-18
By: Craig Childs
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Legends of the Nahanni Valley
- By: Hammerson Peters
- Narrated by: Hammerson Peters
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A nonfiction exploring some of Northern Canada's greatest forgotten mysteries - the stories and legends surrounding the watershed of the South Nahanni River. Deep in the heart of the Canadian North lies a mysterious valley shrouded in legend. Lured by tales of lost gold, prospectors who enter it tend to lose their heads or vanish without a trace. Some say that the valley is cursed - haunted by an evil spirit whose wailings echo in the canyons
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Read this book
- By brian on 12-05-21
By: Hammerson Peters
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The Wild Places
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? Or have we tarmacked, farmed and built ourselves out of wildness? In his vital, bewitching, inspiring classic, Robert Macfarlane sets out in search of the wildness that remains.
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Magical
- By Jennifer on 01-27-22
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Amazon Woman
- Facing Fears, Chasing Dreams, and My Quest to Kayak the Largest River from Source to Sea
- By: Darcy Gaechter
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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This 148-day journey began on Darcy Gaechter’s 35th birthday. She sold her successful outdoor adventure business, upsetting her partner and boyfriend of 12 years and getting them both fired in the process. The emotional waters that would fester and erupt on the ensuing journey were often more challenging to navigate than the mighty river itself. With blistering lips and irradiated fingernails, Darcy would tackle raging Class Five whitewater for 25 days straight, barely surviving a dynamite-filled canyon being prepared for a new hydroelectric plant.
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More than just an adventure book...
- By Scott Shepherd on 04-19-20
By: Darcy Gaechter
What listeners say about Alone Against the North
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Teresa
- 09-03-24
Heart of a True Explorer
Exciting...True...Heartstopping..
Educational...Sincere!!!
Adam Shoaltes loves his journeys..the outdoors and all that exist in the wild..
Sincerely one of the best Narrators in the business!!!
I've purchased all Adam's books...
Absolutely an Amazing Writer!!!!
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- gerry
- 04-14-21
this book will entertain and cause wonder
Adam is amazing, he lives a life I wish I could and his books have inspired me to spend as much time away from city's and technology as I can in the nice weather.
the adventures in this book alone will have you waiting to find out not just how he gets out of this jam but what the next one will be.
Adam should be knighted!
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- Marion
- 10-05-21
Excellent
It is a real attention grabber. It is as if I was along on the adventure. Loved it and wanted it to even last longer.
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- Steve
- 02-12-20
Great story.
Mr. Shoalts is a man with the soul of the men who explored the new world so long ago. A very old soul.
I truly hope that his interactions with the young canoers inspired at least one of them to explore, something or someplace. To not be afraid and to want to know.
Thanks for telling me your story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ron Morgan
- 05-14-21
Great explorer story
I enjoyed the story. fun to listen to an explorer story in which the expedition was done on little to no budget.
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- J. Balisteri
- 09-14-21
A enjoyable listen, look last the braggy
A great story of a couple of very impressive solo adventures. The string lights of the book are the fantastic historical ancendotes, quotes and other info about the history of Canadian exploration. there are also several sections that create good suspense as Adam ventures solo into the unknown. Also great narration.
The only trouble I had with the book was that often the writing comes off as very self serving any braggy. If Adam could tone this down in other books, they would be much better and accessible.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bryce
- 01-07-21
If you liked Into The Wild, you’ll enjoy this book
It is so refreshing to read a modern non fiction adventure book that ends in triumph rather than tragedy. Adam Shoalts may be downright crazy and narrow minded at times throughout the book. But in order to accomplish what he did, you need to be crazy and hyper focused. His journeys are not for the faint hearted. They are for the fellow outdoorsmen that desires adventure beyond the developed campsites and heavily trafficked trails of well known national parks. The outdoorsman that dreams of traveling to more remote locations to disconnect from modern society. Living off the land, conquering it while admiring and respecting it along the way. Shoalts truly is a modern day explorer.
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- franklin
- 02-19-21
Adventure
I love adventure books and this one did not disappoint. It had enough detail and enough adventure to keep me interested. Look forward to reading more by Adam.
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- S. Harms
- 07-15-22
The book was really more about himself
I was looking for something with a lot of adventure and excitement this book could have had it if he hadn’t talked so much about himself
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- Harold J.
- 04-24-23
Great adventure
Every time I read one of his books. It makes me want to go back packing on a kayak trip.
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