Jacob Shell is an Associate Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University. He received his PhD in Geography from Syracuse University. Shell arrived at his interest in Burma (Myanmar) through the topic of transportation: in particular transportation on animal-back. His first book, "Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons, Mules, Canals, and the Vanishing Geographies of Subversive Mobility," was published by MIT Press in 2015. Shell initially set out to write a book about elephants as a means of transportation in 2012, a research framing which directed his attention to the teak forests of central Burma, as well as to the forests of Kachin State and to Northeast India. His book about this topic, "Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants," was published by WW Norton in 2019. Shell also draws maps.