Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal

Focused on a lifelong goal to visit Lake Baikal, eco-journalist Peter Thompson uses this Siberian gem as the centerpiece of a round-the-world trip taken at a time of "personal transition." Written in an easy style that is part journalism, part kitchen table storytelling over vodka and kolbasa, Sacred Sea is a humorous explorer's tale just rich enough in back story to help the casual reader understand the forces surrounding and threatening Lake Baikal. Thompson engagingly weaves the travelogue with his personal journey (notably with the Red Sox's failures and triumphs), offering a look at modern Russia through the prism of this great lake. (Reviewed in Russian Life)

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.

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!

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~]

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."