Around the Sacred Sea: Mongolia and Lake Baikal on Horseback (Hardcover)

~ Bartle B. Bull (Author) "WHAT were we to expect as we approached Mongolia?..." (more)
Key Phrases: tinned beef, Lake Baikal, East Coast, West Coast (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From 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and well produced, its sketchmap fails to trace the route taken, and the environmental information is now seven years out of date.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.DHarold M. Otness, formerly with Southern Oregon Univ. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

An account of the author's journey on horseback around Russia's Lake Baikal, the largest and deepest freshwater lake in the world, on horseback. The book explores the ecology and natural wonders of the area, as well as charting the growing impact of man.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Canongate U.S. (June 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862418461
• ISBN-13: 978-0862418465
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,735,077 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, funny, engaging, terrific reading!, August 3, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book, March 25, 2000

By	Sharon McNulty (Davis, California) - See all my reviews

Around The Sacred Sea tells of the author's extrodinary feat of riding horseback completely around Lake Baikal.The book draws you in right from the prologue. Bartle Bull is an excellent writer, who not only describes in beautiful detail the sights, sounds, people and animals he and his friends encounter during the expedition, through his words he brings the reader along with him. I have never been even near Lake Baikal, but I feel like I have. There were moments of danger that had me flipping ahead in the book to make sure everything turned out alright. There were sad moments and there were drunk moments and there were irate moments and there were happy moments. And I felt every single one of them. The book is also illustrated with beautiful photographs taken during the adventure. I loved this book. This book is a must have for people anxious to take their own adventures, people who have any interest in Russia and Lake Baikal and for people who want to have adventures while they are safe and secure at home.

4.0 out of 5 stars Lake Baikal, August 31, 2008

By	Henry Bolanos (connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wonderful adventure of youth riding around Lake Baikal. As good a writer as his Father.Makes me wish I were young again...