Wade Davis

Named by the National Geographic Society as one of the Explorers for the Millennium, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” As a botanical explorer, and later Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society (2000–2013) and Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (2014–2024), his work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic.

His 24 books, published in 26 languages, include the international best sellers The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, The Wayfinders, Magdalena and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize. National Geographic Books has published two collections of his photographs, Light at the Edge of the World and Wade Davis: Photographs. His 40 film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for National Geographic, and Sendero de la Anaconda, the most watched documentary in the history of Colombian cinema.

One of 20 Honorary Members of the Explorers Club, Davis is Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and recipient of 12 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, the 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, the 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society’s Distinguished Explorer Award, the 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration, and the 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2016 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia. When not travelling, Davis divides his time between his home on Bowen Island and a remote fishing lodge in Tahltan territory in northern British Columbia.

Books

Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays. Greystone Books, 2024.
Magdalena: River of Dreams. Knopf, 2020.
Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs: 50 Years of Research. Co-editor with Dennis McKenna, Ghillean Prance and Benjamin De Loenen. Synergetic Press, 2018.
Wade Davis: Photographs. National Geographic Books, 2018.
Cowboys of the Americas. Photography by Luis Fabini. Greystone Books, 2016.
No Strangers: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World. Annenberg Foundation, 2012.
River Notes: A Natural and Human History of the Colorado. Island Press, 2012.
The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena and Nass. Greystone Books, 2011.
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. Knopf, 2011.
Shadows in the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire. Island Press, 2010.
The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. The 2009 CBC Massey Lectures. House of Anansi Press, 2009.
Grand Canyon: River at Risk. Insight Editions, 2008.
Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey Through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures. Douglas & McIntyre, 2007.
Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures. Co-editor with Catherine Howell and K. David Harrison. National Geographic Books, 2007.
The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes. Chronicle Books, 2004.
The Clouded Leopard. Douglas & McIntyre, 1998.
Rainforest: Ancient Realm of the Pacific Northwest. Photography by Graham Osborne. Greystone Books, 1998.
One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest. Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Nomads of the Dawn. With Ian Mackenzie and Shane Kennedy. Pomegranate Press, 1995.
Penan: Voice for the Borneo Rainforest. With Thom Henley. Western Canada Wilderness Committee, 1990.
The Ethnobotany of Chinchero, an Andean Community in Southern Peru. With Christine Franquemont and others. Fieldiana Botany, 1990.
Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie. University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
The Serpent and the Rainbow. Simon & Schuster, 1985.

Presentations

ESPD55 Presentation: Coca: The Divine Leaf of Immortality
Wisdom of the Leaf Coca Summit: Coca is not Cocaine

Chapters

“Coca: The Divine Leaf of Immortality”, in Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs, Vol. III, pp. 94–112. Synergetic Press, 2025
“Where We Are, and Where This Might All Be Going”, in Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs, Vol. III, pp. 485–492. Synergetic Press, 2025

Course on the Living Library

The Shamanic Art of Healing – Wade Davis on the ethnobotanical and cultural foundations of traditional healing, available to members of the Living Library.