Sacred sea

"Sacred Sea follows veteran environmental journalist Peter Thomson as he sets off from Boston with his younger brother for one of nature's most remarkable creations: Lake Baikal. A gargantuan crack in the Siberian plateau, Lake Baikal 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." "But at Baikal the brothers 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 halfway around the world by train, cargo ship, and rubber raft, the author and his brother encounter people who, while yearning for something beyond the limits of their own lives, 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 a discovery of the restorative power of trust, faith, and human connection."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.