By Øyvind Ravna, 2014
Through Siberia with Nansen is based on a joint Norwegian-Russian expedition in the wake of Fridtjof Nansen 100 years after his journey in 1913, organized by UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Northern Arctic Federal University in Arkhangelsk. Nansen's journey is known to many through the book Through Siberia. In Øyvind Ravna's book about the journey a hundred years later, the reader is taken across an ice ocean that is no longer ice-covered, to Novaya Zemlya and the Cold War, to the Nenets on Kolgujev, to the myth-spun Dikson, to the industrial monster Norilsk and to the history of the prison camps in Siberia. In the book, the author talks about climate change and problematizes oil and gas activities in the north. The reader also gets the story of the few indigenous peoples and their situation in Siberia – several of whom today number so few people that they are in danger of disappearing completely. Although both the Northern Sea Route and Siberia have undergone major changes since Nansen's time, many of the places he visited can still be found - places and villages that are unknown to most people. Ravna's book deals with exciting experiences and meetings with people in present-day Siberia, and not least Nansen and his experiences in 1913. Through vivid text, fascinating contemporary images and unique older photo treasures - many not previously published - readers will gain an insight into dramatic Siberia - both as it is today and as it was in Nansen's time.
The book is like new.
