Adventures in Siberia and Mongolia
Beasts, Men and Gods is not just a travel book, but the real history of a man that run for his life through Central Asia in the middle of Russian Revolution of 1917. The author is Ferdinand Ossendowski, a Polish scientist that at that time was working in Siberia, and was found guilty of being counter-revolutionary. In fact, he had being related to a movement that tried to establish the independent Republic of Siberia, seceding Siberia from revolutionary Russia. The Soviet government tried to put him under arrest, but he was warned just moments before the Red Guards arrived to his home. So he left Vladivostok, escaping through the countryside.
Ossendowski passed the winter hidden in the cold Siberian woods, where he met another fugitive, a killer that tried to eat him (yes, it was winter time and there were no food in miles around). After that, Ossendowski managed to reach Outer Mongolia, always avoiding bands of irregulars and bandits. Once in Mongolia, Ossendowski entered what seemed another world: on the one hand there were the Buddhist lamas and his Holiness the Living Buddha (one of the three main figures of Buddhism, along with Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama from Tibet). The Living Buddha although drunk was surrounded by the mystery of his mysticism (yes, you will be surprised). On the other hand, there was a very decadent White Russia army commanded by a legendary figure, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg which was considered almost a living demigod by his men (and also by his enemies), and who claimed that had known for years the exact date of his own death. What a counterpoint of characters if you think this is not fiction and that these people really existed!
A five stars book that deserves to be read.
Ossendowski passed the winter hidden in the cold Siberian woods, where he met another fugitive, a killer that tried to eat him (yes, it was winter time and there were no food in miles around). After that, Ossendowski managed to reach Outer Mongolia, always avoiding bands of irregulars and bandits. Once in Mongolia, Ossendowski entered what seemed another world: on the one hand there were the Buddhist lamas and his Holiness the Living Buddha (one of the three main figures of Buddhism, along with Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama from Tibet). The Living Buddha although drunk was surrounded by the mystery of his mysticism (yes, you will be surprised). On the other hand, there was a very decadent White Russia army commanded by a legendary figure, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg which was considered almost a living demigod by his men (and also by his enemies), and who claimed that had known for years the exact date of his own death. What a counterpoint of characters if you think this is not fiction and that these people really existed!
A five stars book that deserves to be read.
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