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Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: EBooks
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $21.56
You Save: $8.39 (28%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 32002
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: First
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Dewey Decimal Number: 508.47
ASIN: B0014EOQ1K
Publication Date: August 29, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
"Absoliutno blagopoluchnoe ozero Baikal!" the Russian scientist looking out over the great lake says. "Lake Baikal is Perfect!" And humans can never harm it.
For a man cut loose from his life in the U.S., Lake Baikal-Siberia's sacred inland sea-becomes a place of pilgrimage, the focal point of a 25,000-mile journey by land and sea in search of connection, permanence, restoration and hope.
Following a difficult divorce, veteran environmental journalist Peter Thomson sets off from Boston with his younger brother for one of nature's most remarkable creations, in one of the farthest corners of the planet. Lake Baikal, a gargantuan crack in the Siberian plateau, is the world's largest body of fresh water, its deepest and oldest lake, and a cauldron of evolution, home to hundreds of unique creatures, including the world's only freshwater seal. It's also among the most pristine lakes on earth, with a mythical ability to protect itself from the growing human impact-a "perfect," self-cleansing ecosystem.
A trip halfway around the world by train, cargo ship and rubber raft brings the brothers to a place of sublime beauty, deep history and immense natural power. But at Baikal they also find ominous signs that this perfect piece of nature could yet succumb to the even more powerful forces of human hubris, carelessness and ignorance. They find that despite its isolation, Baikal is connected to everything else on Earth, and that it will need the love and devotion of people around the world to protect it.
On their trek to and from Siberia the author and his brother also encounter a stream of people who are also lonely, displaced and yearning for something beyond the limits of their own lives, but many of whom are also big-hearted and deeply connected to their own communities and the world around them. What begins as a search for restoration in nature becomes as well a discovery of the restorative power of trust, faith and human connection.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Thoughtful and entertaining August 20, 2008
For me at least, the true test of a travelogue is - would I want to spend time in the company of the author? In this case - absolutely.
Divided into four sections, Sacred Sea is as much an adventure as it is a statement.
Part 1 begins the journey. We meet the author and his brother James and learn a little of the purpose. James is a shadowy figure offering companionship to the author but little to the reader. But that's okay as the book's main character is a place - or several places to be more precise.
Part 2 introduces us to the largest body of fresh water on earth. The principal character of the book, we are introduced to the majesty of its past. I admit to knowing absolutely nothing about this magnificent wonder until I read this book and thank the author for this alone.
Part 3 is heart of the book - the good, the bad and the indifferent. While Thomson sustains his journalistic reportage throughout the book it is here that the pace of the book falters. But it is hard to fault him for this in light of the magnitude of the book's raion d'etre.
Part 4 is the journey home and reflection.
Along the way we get to know the author, meet lots of interesting folk and visit places that I know that I will never get to see. But in the end it is Baikal itself that leaves the greatest impression.
 Indeed, "A Sacred Sea!" July 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
You will find this book a spiritual reflection, a personal memoir, an ecological thriller. It focuses on one of the most unique and special natural wonders of the world, Siberia's Lake Baikal, "The Sacred Sea," and the necessity of saving it as both a gift to the future and an end in itself. The author writes with passion, conviction and poignancy; a splendid and inspiring read!
Almost Blagopoluchnoe March 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Siberia's Lake Baikal is an astonishing body of water with a unique hold on Russian culture, and increasingly on the imaginations of nature lovers around the world. And of course, the pristine lake is under threat from pollution, development, and climate change. It might be up to the outside world to provide the help that will be impractical or impossible in the Russian bureaucracy and political regime. Peter Thomson embarked on an enlightening and unconventional journey to Baikal and writes beautifully on its natural wonders, the hardy local people, and the threats it faces. Thomson is also adept at exploring the conundrums and enigmas of environmental ethics and the political realities faced by activists working from near and far.
This book also includes Thomson's tales of his offbeat worldwide journey, just one part of which was his long visit to Baikal, but these other portions of the book are rather inconsistently presented, both detracting from the Baikal story and suggesting that the worldwide adventure might be better presented in a book of its own. And there is one real problem with Thomson's occasional lapses into soul-searching about his personal problems. While these issues were the partial impetus for Thomson's journey, such diversions become merely awkward and self-indulgent in a book that is supposed to be about something else. Fortunately, overall this book does an outstanding job of highlighting the unique wonders of Lake Baikal and why more than just the locals should care about its future. [~doomsdayer520~]
Sacred Sea is a great read January 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I make my living as a writer, so it is with some trepidation that I declare any book beautifully written. But in this case I have to, because it is.
"Sacred Sea" is a must-read, the tale of a journalist and his half-brother who decide to voyage to the world's oldest, deepest and biggest lake - without boarding an airplane to get there. When they arrive, they are told of the lake's magical power to restore itself in the face of increasing pollution. They become environmental detectives, using the tools of journalism.
It's at once travelogue, environmental investigation and a study of the Russian character, punctuated by passages in a personal emotional voyage. Thomson's renderings of characters are delightful: the long-suffering scientist, the boastful - and yet ultimately conflicted - political appointee, the earnest environmentalist-turned-tour guide, the vividly dressed "Old Believers" for whom even the Russian Orthodox Church is too modern.
My favorite chapter, and perhaps the most beautifully written, is Thomson's imaginary trip to the lake's bottom. Yes, it's imaginary - the only part of the book that is - and yet so revealing. No wonder the New York Times called the book "compelling" and a "superb paean to a unique and bizarre ecosystem."
Sacred Sea December 17, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal is at once a deeply engaging memoir, highly entertaining travel book (and boys' adventure), and a remarkably acute (and non-polemic) cautionary tale about the environment.
A few years back, Peter Thomson, then editor and producer of NPR's environmental news program Living on Earth, found himself at the loose ends. Thomson's way of tying up the loose ends was to embark on an around the world boat and train (no planes!) journey with his younger brother, a journey that would center on Siberia's Lake Baikal,the world's largest body of fresh water and home to a unique ecosystem.(With a heavily-polluting paper mill on its shores, Lake Baikal is in some danger.)
Thomson managed to talk to a number of people on all sides of the Baikal issue - scientists, business people, environmentalists, politicos - and these conversations make for compelling reading.
So do all the sections on getting from Point A to Point B,legs of the journey largely made on cargo ships and not particularly comfortable trains. For the most part, Thomson went native in his travels, and thus left himself open to the types of encounters you won't have if you're riding the clean toilet tourist bus with the Kiwanis Club.
This book is highly recommended - and would make an excelent book club choice. Plenty to discuss here!
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