The Reading Warehouse

A lifetime of wilderness adventures and the resulting insights relating to nature's intricacies as experienced by a master in the art of primitive wilderness survival.

Fire! Wake up! The shelter is on fire!

His students affectionately call him Doc Survival. He's Quebec's Indiana Jones in a forest setting. Searching for the treasures of the wilderness has been his life-long quest; with passion as his only guide, he has dared to penetrate the forest on its own terms, facing increasingly difficult challenges in the hope of becoming nature's confidant, of learning her secrets.

Professor emeritus André-François Bourbeau holds a Guinness World Record for voluntary wilderness survival in the boreal forest. Herein lies his path and his stories, unadulterated: gritty and often comical mistakes punctuated by inspiring successes. What remains of this lifetime of experimentation is one man's everlasting love of the wilderness and its intricacies, a rousing reflection on our own human priorities, and need for deep connection with the environment and other fellow beings.

André-François Bourbeau is professor emeritus at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi where he taught for over 30 years in the Outdoor Adventure Program he co-founded. He also founded and directed the university's outdoor research laboratory. Bourbeau lives in the Saguenay region of Quebec.