|
Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Hydrobiology > Marine biology
|
Buy Now
Sacred Sea - A Journey to Lake Baikal (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,739
Discovery Miles 17 390
|
|
|
Sacred Sea - A Journey to Lake Baikal (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
Dreamy, melancholy but ultimately hopeful account of veteran
environmental journalist Thomson's odyssey to an ancient, still
relatively untouched lake at the cultural crossroads of Asia.Just
north of Mongolia, Siberia's Lake Baikal is truly one of a kind.
Formed when the earth's surface cracked more than 25 million years
ago, it is the world's oldest body of fresh water and the biggest
(roughly 23,000 cubic kilometers). Imagine, the author suggests, a
hole so big that it could hold all five Great Lakes and provide
earth's six billion residents with three liters of water per person
per day for 3,000 years. Thomson, senior editor of NPR's
award-winning nature program "Living on Earth," weaves his personal
narrative together with the story of the lake, the land and its
hardy indigenous people, the Buryats. He depicts a real-life El
Dorado, one of the last remaining sites of natural wonder on a
planet homogenized by globalization and threatened by global
warming. Even as Thomson illustrates what makes Baikal special -
the microscopic shrimp that purify its waters; the bizarre
scaleless fish called golomyanka, which can withstand depths that
would crush a human; the magical nerpa, a freshwater seal - he
can't avoid the portents of imminent loss. Pollutants threaten the
shrimp, the number of golomyanka are shrinking and the lake is
warming, which means the nerpa have less to eat and don't give
birth to as many pups. Inviting readers to imagine life beneath the
lake's surface, Thomson's companionable prose voices a deep love of
nature and great affinity for the region's rich cultural and
natural history.Exhaustively researched and lyrically written - a
welcome addition to any library. (Kirkus Reviews)
"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 theirown 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.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
