Around the Sacred Sea FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
In 1993, three recent Harvard graduates, well armed with letters of introduction and privileged contacts, both political and scientific, rode horses north from Mongolia to Siberia and around Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake with the greatest volume of fresh water on earth. It was a four-month journey of self-imposed physical challenges, in part an endeavor to report on the environmental damage being accelerated by the break-up of the Soviet Union and in part a youthful lark liberally oiled by alcohol consumption with the local characters encountered along the way. (It's astonishing how much vodka was consumed on this trip!) While the book is attractive and well produced, its sketchmap fails to trace the route taken, and the environmental information is now seven years out of date. But, overall, Bull (Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure) has written a spirited account of a most interesting and little-known part of the world that will fill a gap in public library collections.--Harold M. Otness, formerly with Southern Oregon Univ. Lib., Ashland Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
Internet Bookwatch
Russia's Lake Baikal is the largest, deepest, oldest, and cleanest freshwater lake in the world. It's size is greater than all of
five of the North American Great Lakes combined and home to more than 1,500 species of life known nowhere else in the
world. Bartle Bull led the first expedition to ever circumnavigate Lake Baikal. While on this epic sojourn, he and his team
mapped the devastating impact of human development and industry on this wild and pristine ecosystem. Around The Sacred
Sea: Mongolia And Lake Baikal on Horseback is the incredible and riveting story of this valiant trek, an exploration of
Baikal's history, ecology, and culture, and well as an informative and engaging survey of incredible and unique plant and
animal life. Beautifully written, funny, occasionally suspenseful, Around The Sacred Sea is a unique, engaging, informative,
exciting, page-turner of an uncommon, true-life adventure story, ideal reading for the armchair traveler and inspiring for the
globe trotter set.
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