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Eastbound through Siberia: Observations from the Great Northern Expedition
In the winter of 1739, Georg Steller received word from Empress Anna of Russia that he was to embark on a secret expedition to the far reaches of Siberia as a member of the Great Northern Expedition. While searching for economic possibilities and strategic advantages, Steller was to send back descriptions of everything he saw. The Empress's instructions were detailed, from requests for a preserved whale brain to observing the child-rearing customs of local peoples, and Steller met the task with dedication, bravery, and a good measure of humor. In the name of science, Steller and his comrades confronted horse-swallowing bogs, leaped across ice floes, and survived countless close calls in their exploration of an unforgiving environment. Not stopping at lists of fishes, birds, and mammals, Steller also details the villages and the lives of those living there, from vice-governors to prostitutes. His writings rail against government corruption and the misuse of power while describing with empathy the lives of the poor and forgotten, with special attention toward Native peoples.
What emerges is a remarkable window into life―both human and animal―in 18th century Siberia. Due to the secret nature of the expedition, Steller's findings were hidden in Russian archives for centuries, but the near-daily entries he recorded on journeys from the town of Irkutsk to Kamchatka are presented here in English for the first time.
What emerges is a remarkable window into life―both human and animal―in 18th century Siberia. Due to the secret nature of the expedition, Steller's findings were hidden in Russian archives for centuries, but the near-daily entries he recorded on journeys from the town of Irkutsk to Kamchatka are presented here in English for the first time.
- GenresRussiaNonfiction
250 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 7, 2021
I reviewed "Eastbound through Siberia" for Barnes & Noble shortly after reading the digital version. If you use Google Earth to follow Steller through his journal as he makes his way across Siberia, you will better appreciate the "physical demands" that the Siberian landscape placed upon him. My review that I posted on Barnes & Noble follows:
Having given "Eastbound through Siberia" a close read I found that it complements the 1988 translation that Dr. Engel and Dr. Frost made of Georg Wilhelm Steller’s "Journal of a Voyage with Bering." I read "Eastbound through Siberia" slowly in its digital version and followed him along his journey using Dr. Eckehart Jäger’s route maps in the book in conjunction with Google Earth. Using the computer to track Steller on his journey added a special dimension to the Dr. Engel-Dr. Willmore translation of "Eastbound through Siberia": it gave a sense of both the vastness and ruggedness of the terrain that Steller covered from Irkutsk overland to Kachega—the first settlement on the upper reaches of the Lena River—then down the Lena River to Yakutsk and Yarmanka, and thence overland, onward to Okhotsk on the sea—there to meet Captain-Commander Vitus Bering and Captain Alexsei Chirikov, both who would respectively command the Imperial Russian ships the St. Peter and the St. Paul on their voyages of discovery during the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
"Eastbound through Siberia" reveals Steller’s character as he carried out the duties and responsibilities that the Russian Academy of Sciences commissioned him to execute: Steller not only carried out the lengthy assignment that the academy of sciences charged him with, but he did so with professional resolve and, despite the many hardships and challenges that he encountered, he did so with no complaint. As he made his way across the Siberian countryside he overcame numerous problems and impediments that the fates visited upon him, yet he calmly pushed onward enduring storms, river ice jams, flooded streams, dead and dying horses, mosquitoes, and at times the wet clothing he had to wear. But despite all this, Steller never ceased to conduct his work as a naturalist, and he accomplished his scientific work in addition to acting as accounts keeper, logistics planner, and trail master on his cross country journey! The problems he encountered he treated as being merely incidental to his work for the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Eastbound through Siberia" is a must read for anyone who has read or plans to read Steller's journal of his historic voyage with Bering. The book gives us a good glimpse into Steller’s character: it reveals times and circumstances that certainly conditioned him mentally and physically as he traversed Siberia. And once having arrived in Kamchatka, he was well seasoned to assume the responsibilities as Vitus Bering’s physician and naturalist on Bering’s voyage for the Second Kamchatka Expedition—for Steller, a voyage that proved to be as arduous as his overland journey across Siberia!
Having given "Eastbound through Siberia" a close read I found that it complements the 1988 translation that Dr. Engel and Dr. Frost made of Georg Wilhelm Steller’s "Journal of a Voyage with Bering." I read "Eastbound through Siberia" slowly in its digital version and followed him along his journey using Dr. Eckehart Jäger’s route maps in the book in conjunction with Google Earth. Using the computer to track Steller on his journey added a special dimension to the Dr. Engel-Dr. Willmore translation of "Eastbound through Siberia": it gave a sense of both the vastness and ruggedness of the terrain that Steller covered from Irkutsk overland to Kachega—the first settlement on the upper reaches of the Lena River—then down the Lena River to Yakutsk and Yarmanka, and thence overland, onward to Okhotsk on the sea—there to meet Captain-Commander Vitus Bering and Captain Alexsei Chirikov, both who would respectively command the Imperial Russian ships the St. Peter and the St. Paul on their voyages of discovery during the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
"Eastbound through Siberia" reveals Steller’s character as he carried out the duties and responsibilities that the Russian Academy of Sciences commissioned him to execute: Steller not only carried out the lengthy assignment that the academy of sciences charged him with, but he did so with professional resolve and, despite the many hardships and challenges that he encountered, he did so with no complaint. As he made his way across the Siberian countryside he overcame numerous problems and impediments that the fates visited upon him, yet he calmly pushed onward enduring storms, river ice jams, flooded streams, dead and dying horses, mosquitoes, and at times the wet clothing he had to wear. But despite all this, Steller never ceased to conduct his work as a naturalist, and he accomplished his scientific work in addition to acting as accounts keeper, logistics planner, and trail master on his cross country journey! The problems he encountered he treated as being merely incidental to his work for the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Eastbound through Siberia" is a must read for anyone who has read or plans to read Steller's journal of his historic voyage with Bering. The book gives us a good glimpse into Steller’s character: it reveals times and circumstances that certainly conditioned him mentally and physically as he traversed Siberia. And once having arrived in Kamchatka, he was well seasoned to assume the responsibilities as Vitus Bering’s physician and naturalist on Bering’s voyage for the Second Kamchatka Expedition—for Steller, a voyage that proved to be as arduous as his overland journey across Siberia!
November 22, 2022
"GreyAtlas" and Gretchen Dorian gave "Eastbound through Siberia" negative reviews under the misconception that Georg Wilhelm Steller kept this journal to be read as a "thriller." That said, these two "reviewers" have raised the genre of "folk comedy" to a new height!
Having given "Eastbound through Siberia" a close read I found that it complements the 1988 translation that Dr. Engel and Dr. Frost made of Georg Wilhelm Steller’s "Journal of a Voyage with Bering." I read "Eastbound through Siberia" slowly in its digital version and followed him along his journey using Dr. Eckehart Jäger’s route maps in the book in conjunction with Google Earth. Using the computer to track Steller on his journey added a special dimension to the Dr. Engel-Dr. Willmore translation of "Eastbound through Siberia": it gave a sense of both the vastness and ruggedness of the terrain that Steller covered from Irkutsk overland to Kachega—the first settlement on the upper reaches of the Lena River—then down the Lena River to Yakutsk and Yarmanka, and thence overland, onward to Okhotsk on the sea—there to meet Captain-Commander Vitus Bering and Captain Alexsei Chirikov, both who would respectively command the Imperial Russian ships the St. Peter and the St. Paul on their voyages of discovery during the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
"Eastbound through Siberia" reveals Steller’s character as he carried out the duties and responsibilities that the Russian Academy of Sciences commissioned him to execute: Steller not only carried out the lengthy assignment that the academy of sciences charged him with, but he did so with professional resolve and, despite the many hardships and challenges that he encountered, he did so with no complaint. As he made his way across the Siberian countryside he overcame numerous problems and impediments that the fates visited upon him, yet he calmly pushed onward enduring storms, river ice jams, flooded streams, dead and dying horses, mosquitoes, and at times the wet clothing he had to wear. But despite all this, Steller never ceased to conduct his work as a naturalist, and he accomplished his scientific work in addition to acting as accounts keeper, logistics planner, and trail master on his cross country journey! The problems he encountered he treated as being merely incidental to his work for the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Eastbound through Siberia" is a must read for anyone who has read or plans to read Steller's journal of his historic voyage with Bering. The book gives us a good glimpse into Steller’s character: it reveals times and circumstances that certainly conditioned him mentally and physically as he traversed Siberia. And once having arrived in Kamchatka, he was well seasoned to assume the responsibilities as Vitus Bering’s physician and naturalist on Bering’s voyage for the Second Kamchatka Expedition—for Steller, a voyage that proved to be as arduous as his overland journey across Siberia!
Having given "Eastbound through Siberia" a close read I found that it complements the 1988 translation that Dr. Engel and Dr. Frost made of Georg Wilhelm Steller’s "Journal of a Voyage with Bering." I read "Eastbound through Siberia" slowly in its digital version and followed him along his journey using Dr. Eckehart Jäger’s route maps in the book in conjunction with Google Earth. Using the computer to track Steller on his journey added a special dimension to the Dr. Engel-Dr. Willmore translation of "Eastbound through Siberia": it gave a sense of both the vastness and ruggedness of the terrain that Steller covered from Irkutsk overland to Kachega—the first settlement on the upper reaches of the Lena River—then down the Lena River to Yakutsk and Yarmanka, and thence overland, onward to Okhotsk on the sea—there to meet Captain-Commander Vitus Bering and Captain Alexsei Chirikov, both who would respectively command the Imperial Russian ships the St. Peter and the St. Paul on their voyages of discovery during the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
"Eastbound through Siberia" reveals Steller’s character as he carried out the duties and responsibilities that the Russian Academy of Sciences commissioned him to execute: Steller not only carried out the lengthy assignment that the academy of sciences charged him with, but he did so with professional resolve and, despite the many hardships and challenges that he encountered, he did so with no complaint. As he made his way across the Siberian countryside he overcame numerous problems and impediments that the fates visited upon him, yet he calmly pushed onward enduring storms, river ice jams, flooded streams, dead and dying horses, mosquitoes, and at times the wet clothing he had to wear. But despite all this, Steller never ceased to conduct his work as a naturalist, and he accomplished his scientific work in addition to acting as accounts keeper, logistics planner, and trail master on his cross country journey! The problems he encountered he treated as being merely incidental to his work for the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Eastbound through Siberia" is a must read for anyone who has read or plans to read Steller's journal of his historic voyage with Bering. The book gives us a good glimpse into Steller’s character: it reveals times and circumstances that certainly conditioned him mentally and physically as he traversed Siberia. And once having arrived in Kamchatka, he was well seasoned to assume the responsibilities as Vitus Bering’s physician and naturalist on Bering’s voyage for the Second Kamchatka Expedition—for Steller, a voyage that proved to be as arduous as his overland journey across Siberia!
January 29, 2022
I wish I could give this lower than one star. I skimmed everything. Absolutely boring and useless.
April 27, 2022
Got bored, never finished..
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews