In the pages of Adventurous Dreams, Adventurous Lives, 120 outstanding individuals, representing a Who's Who of international exploration, relate those indelible moments in their youth when the dreams that launched their remarkable lives were born. As they recount the turning points on the way to fulfilling those dreams, which often meant confronting enormous physical, emotional or other obstacles, we learn how incredibly inspirational their lives are.

Included in the project are Meave and Louise Leakey, Buzz Aldrin, Robert Ballard, balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “Lucy” discoverer Don Johanson, Jack Horner, Sue Hendrickson, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the Ra's Capt. Norman Baker, George Bass, Eugenie Clark, Richard Fisher, Trieste's Don Walsh, and Nobel Laureate Charles H. Townes.

Twenty-four of these dynamic individuals are Canadian—people like paleontologists Philip Currie and Eva Koppelhus; Survivorman Les Stroud; Sea Hunter Jim Delgado; National Geographic explorer-in-residence Wade Davis; Seven Summits pioneer climber Pat Morrow; human-powered circumnavigators of the globe Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei; photographers Pat and Rosemarie Keough; and naturalist Robert Bateman—a testament not only to Canada's significant contribution to world exploration, but also to the power of following one's dream.

The 120 Adventurous Dreamers in order of appearance: Norman Vaughan, Bradford Washburn, Colonel Richard Butson, Thomas Vrebalovich, Buzz Aldrin, John Allen, Paul P. Sipiera, Jr., Bertrand Piccard, Brian Jones, Paul MacCready, Ron Craven, Major Tim Leslie, David Hempleman-Adams, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Colonel John Blashford-Snell, Colonel Gerry Bass, Maciej Kuczynski, Neil Laughton, Milbry Polk, Wade Davis, O. Winston "Bud" Hampton, Eric Kjellgren, John Olsen, William Thomas, Captain Norman Baker, Thom Pollard, Gene Savoy, Captain Robert "Rio" Hahn, John Loret, Gary Ziegler, Greg Deyermenjian, Paulino Mamani, Karol Mysliwiec, Peter Lewin, Jerzy "Yurek" Majcherczyk, Eugene Buchanan, Richard Fisher, Mikael Strandberg, Steve Van Beek, Les Stroud, Ken Kamler, Warren MacDonald, John Hare, William Burnham, Ingrid "Orca" Visser, Larry Agenbroad, Jerome Hamlin, Robert Ballard, Paul Berkman, Robert Fisher, Vice Admiral John "Nick" Nicholson, Ed Sobey, Don Walsh, Eugenie "Genie" Clark, Anne Doubilet, Ann McGovern, Judith W. Schrafft, George Bass, James Delgado, Edward Von Der Porten, Rob Zaworski, Sue Hendrickson, Jack Horner, Don Johanson, James Powell, Magnus Andersson, Captain Joel Fogel, Brian Hanson, Robert Pearlman, Meave and Louise Leakey, Philip Currie and Eva Koppelhus, Pat and Rosemarie Keough, Pat and Baiba Morrow, Stefan Harzen and Barbara Brunnick, Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei, Hugh Downs, Marek Kaminski, Jeffrey Mantel, Charles H.Townes, Sir Chris Bonington, Cathy O'Dowd, Neville Shulman, Helen Thayer, Edward Migdalski, John Bellezza, Catherine Cooke, Fred "Fritz" Selby, Catherine Hickson, Charlie Anderson, Rosaly Lopes, Jim Chester, C. William (Bill) Steele, Sam Meacham, Kevin Hall, Ian MacIntyre, Bertil ordenstam, Tom Reimchen, Nat Rutter, Robert Bateman, Stratton Leopold, Michael "Charlie" Brown, Lieutenant (Navy) Joseph Frey, John Geiger, Monika Rogozinska, Stanley Spielman, Michele Westmorland, Alan Nichols, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Lee Talbot, Wong How Man, Eve D'Vincent, Dalia Amor and Fernando Colchero, and Ted Gilliland.