The Magnificent Siberian

In Russia, everything has a price. In Far East Siberia, Russia, a sense of independence from the central government prevailed, even under harsh Communist rule. Now, with the nation in political turmoil, poachers operate in brazen defiance of the law. Their targets—rare Siberian tigers—fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market. American biologist Chris Harmon is part of a joint Russian-American research team investigating the tigers’ survival in the Sikhote-Alin preserve. Harmon’s recent discovery of a tiger and her three young cubs is threatened by a politician’s lucrative thirty-year logging contract, which could destroy their habitat. His petition to oppose the deal is dismissed, but Harmon’s efforts to protect the endangered animals are getting someone’s attention. Former KGB hit man Sergei Lemenov is a dangerous man, not just a hunter of unusual animals, but of men too. He saves a piece of each of his victims—man or beast—giving him the gruesome nickname, The Collector. He’s been ordered to obtain the tigers and to silence Harmon, permanently. Now, Harmon must navigate a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape, ruthless Communist sympathizers, and a complicated international trafficking ring to save the tigers, and himself.

"Published under the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea)"--Title page verso.

Describes the behavior, physical characteristics, habitat, and life cycle of Siberian tigers.

The gripping account of one man's determination to discover, film, and understand one of the rarest and most formidable big cats in the world. In Great Soul of Siberia, renowned tiger researcher Sooyong Park tracks three generations of Siberian tigers living in remote south-eastern Russia. He sets up underground bunkers to observe the tigers, living thrillingly close to these beautiful but dangerous apex predators. Park draws from twenty years of experience and research to focus on the Siberian tigers' losing battle against poaching and diminishing habitat. Over the two years of his harrowing stakeout, Park's poignant and poetic observations of the tigers draw a fiercely compassionate portrait of these elusive, endangered creatures.

No railway journey on Earth can equal the Trans-Siberian between Moscow and Vladivostock. It is not just its vast length and the great variety of the lands and climes through which it passes. It is not just its history as the line that linked the huge territories which are Russia together. It is a dream which calls countless travellers to the adventure of the longest railway in the world. From the birth aboard of Rudolf Nureyev to the childhood obsession with the railway of Lesley Blanch, to the weariness that eventually overcame Paul Theroux, to the excitement of the author's own journey, this revised and updated collection of travellers' accounts brings together emotions, descriptions and humour from a century of travel. This new edition of a classic anthology takes us through the tremendous achievement of the railway’s construction across harsh, unsettled lands through the earliest journeys of Western travellers and the trains on which they travelled, and their descriptions of fellow travellers, food, scenery, domestic arrangements, adventures on and off the train, convicts, revolution and war as the train carried them through a lonely, lovely landscape. The barrier of Lake Baikal was crossed by a British-built ice-breaker, put together on the lakeside until the link around the deep water and through the first tunnels of the route was completed. The railway played – and still plays – a huge part in holding this vast country together.

This is an incredible book presenting the accounts of adventures in the Arctic. The writer gives vivid descriptions of the places and their experiences throughout the work, keeping the readers engaged till the end. Content includes: Outfit and Supplies Saghalien and the Convict Station at Korsakovsk Petropaulovsk and Southern Kamchatka Salmon-fishing in the Far North The Town of Ghijiga Off for the Tundra—a Native Family Tunguse and Korak Hospitality Dog-sledging and the Fur Trade Off for the North—a Runaway Through the Drifts Buried in a Blizzard Christmas—the "Deer Koraks" Habits and Customs of the Koraks Off for Bering Sea—the Tchuktches A Perilous Summer Trip A Ten-thousand-mile Race