Adventurers dream now, live now
By Warner M.Montgomery Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

Jason Schoonover, author of Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives, with hill tribes people in Thailand

I first met Jason Schoonover at an Explorers Club conference on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, in 2006. He sat quietly, a mysterious Asian women at his side. Scruffy beard, penetrating eyes, khaki suit with short pants.

During a break in the marathon presentations, we met in the lounge. It came up that he lived six months in Bangkok and six months in Canada. I acknowledged my Peace Corps experience in Thailand, and we compared notes.

Before long, I told him his life sounded like the fictional character in a book I read called Thai Gold.

"I wrote it," he said. Gasping for breath, I muttered, "Then the woman with you must be Su Hattori, the Imperial Dragon Lady."

"The very same," my new hero replied.

During the next few months, I read Jason's other book, Opium Dream and Manila Galleon. My kind of stuff: adventure, Asian intrigue, raw non- stop excitement, plots that knock your socks off. On each page I saw Jason (through his alter- ego Lee Rivers) discovering invaluable artifacts, challenging thieves, carousing vixens, and conquering warlords. And it all happened in places I had been.

Jason Schoonover has written a new book. Not about fictional characters phalandering across Asia but about real explorers doing unbelievable things. Adventurous Dreams Adventurous Lives is the compilation of 120 vignettes of people who lived their dreams. "... the most positive, happiest, healthy-minded, energized, intelligent, and fascinating group I've ever encountered," says Jason. This book is a Who's Who of international exploration. Those mentioned in the book are all members of The Explorers Club. I have never been so proud to be counted among their number.

Among those writing about their dreams and lives in Jason's book are those who created maps, explored space, discovered ancient man, uncovered mummies, conquered raging rivers, survived extreme environments, picked the key to Davy Jones's locker, uncovered unknown dinosaurs, climbed the highest mountains, explored the deepest caves, captured nature's wonders on palette and photograph, and wandered in and out of the spiritual worlds.

Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives is a textbook for those studying the how and why of exploration. Each vignette rings true, each explanation tugs at your heart, each paragraph makes you cry out, "Me, too. I want to do that."

Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives by Jason Schoonover.

For more information about the book, visit www.rmbooks.com.