Journey into the vast and mysterious landscapes of Siberia through the pages of these books about Siberia, where the boundless steppes, rugged mountains, and frozen tundras serve as both backdrop and character.
A land shrouded in enigma, Siberia has captured the imagination of authors, adventurers, and storytellers for centuries.
Best Books About Siberia
With its extremes of climate, unique cultures, and untamed wilderness, Siberia beckons you to explore its depths, delve into its history and uncover the hidden tales that have emerged from its icy heart.
These books about Siberia are all non-fiction and are epic true-life stories.
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In Siberia
In the early 1980s, Colin Thubron wrote a book about his travels around the Soviet Union in an old Morris Minor. In the late 90s, post–Soviet Union, he decided to explore Siberia—this time by truck, by bus, and by boat.
The result is an evocative account of an extraordinary region. He travels through exotic cities and deserted villages, meets nostalgic old Stalinists and aggressive Orthodox churchmen, and generally interweaves Siberia’s fascinating history with a description of the place today.
Colin Thubron is one of my favourite travel writers and this is my number one choice in this selection of books about Siberia.
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Owls of the Eastern Ice
This is my most recently read favourite out of all these books about Siberia. Owls of the Eastern Ice is a book written by Jonathan C. Slaght and the full title of the book is “Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl.”
The author, Jonathan C. Slaght, is a wildlife biologist and researcher who works with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The book chronicles his experiences studying and conserving the Blakiston’s fish owl, which is the world’s largest owl species.
The Blakiston’s fish owl is native to the remote and inhospitable forests of the Russian Far East and parts of China, making it a challenging species to study and protect.
“Owls of the Eastern Ice” not only provides insights into the biology and behaviour of the Blakiston’s fish owl but also delves into the challenges of wildlife conservation in remote and harsh environments.
The book explores Slaght’s journey as he navigates the rugged landscapes of the Russian wilderness, encounters various obstacles, and works towards the conservation of this endangered owl species.
It has engaging storytelling, rich descriptions of the natural world, and the author’s passion for wildlife conservation. It appeals to those interested in nature, wildlife biology, and environmental conservation.
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The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga
The Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga is a book written by Sylvain Tesson, a French writer, and adventurer. The book recounts Tesson’s experiences of spending six months alone in a cabin on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia.
During this time, he lived a life of solitude, immersed in the harsh and remote environment of the taiga.
The book reflects on the author’s journey of self-discovery, contemplation, and connection with nature. Tesson shares his observations of the natural world, the changing seasons, and the wildlife around him.
He describes the challenges and joys of living alone in such a remote location, finding solace and meaning in the simplicity of life.
The book is brilliant for its beautiful prose, evocative descriptions of the Siberian wilderness, and its exploration of the relationship between humans and nature.
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Travels in Siberia
In Travels in Siberia, Frazier reveals Siberia’s role in history–its science, economics, and politics–with great passion and enthusiasm, ensuring that we’ll never think about it in the same way again.
With great empathy and epic sweep, Frazier tells the stories of Siberia’s most famous exiles, from the well-known–Dostoyevsky, Lenin (twice), Stalin (numerous times)–to the lesser-known (like Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the empress for copying her dresses) to those who experienced unimaginable suffering in Siberian camps under the Soviet regime, forever immortalized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, which is another book I highly recommend reading but it’s not specifically a book about just Siberia.
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The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia
Since the last Ice Age, the reindeer’s extraordinary adaptation to cold has sustained human life over vast tracts of the earth’s surface, providing meat, fur, and transport. Images carved into rocks and tattooed on mummies’ skin hint at ancient ideas about the reindeer’s magical ability to carry the human soul on flights to the sun.
These images pose one of the great mysteries of prehistory: the “reindeer revolution,” in which Siberian native peoples tamed and saddled a species they had previously hunted.
Drawing on nearly twenty years of fieldwork among the Eveny in northeast Siberia, Piers Vitebsky shows how Eveny social relations are formed through an intense partnership with these extraordinary animals as they migrate over the swamps, ice sheets, and mountain peaks of what in winter is the coldest inhabited region in the world.
He reveals how indigenous ways of knowing involve a symbiotic ecology of mood between humans and reindeer, and he opens up an unprecedented understanding of nomadic movement, place, memory, habit, and innovation.
The Soviets’ attempts to settle the nomads in villages undermined their self-reliance and mutual support. In an account both harrowing and funny, Vitebsky shows Eveny’s ambivalence toward productivity plans and medals and their subversion of political meetings designed to control them.
The narrative gives a detailed and tender picture of how reindeer can act out or transform a person’s destiny and of how prophetic dreaming about reindeer fills a gap left by the failed assurances of the state.
Vitebsky explores the Eveny experience of the cruelty of history through the unfolding and intertwining of their personal lives. The interplay of domestic life and power politics is intimate and epic, as the reader follows the diverging fate of three charismatic but very different herding families through dangerous political and economic reforms.
The book’s gallery of unforgettable personalities includes shamans, psychics, wolves, bears, dogs, Communist Party bosses, daredevil aviators, fire and river spirits, and buried ancestors. The Reindeer People is a vivid and moving testimony to a Siberian native people’s endurance and humour at the ecological limits of human existence.
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The Lost Pianos of Siberia
A journey through one of the harshest landscapes on earth — where music reveals the deep humanity and the rich history of Siberia. Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell.
Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos — grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes.
They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the Westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos travelled into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is a testament to noble acts of fortitude by governors, adventurers, and exiles.
Siberian pianos have accomplished extraordinary feats, from the instrument that Maria Volkonsky, wife of an exiled Decemberist revolutionary, used to spread music east of the Urals, to those that brought reprieve to the Soviet Gulag.
That these instruments might still exist in such a hostile landscape is remarkable. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than a miracle.
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Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia
Far away from the trendy cafes, designer boutiques, and political protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists. Midnight in Siberia chronicles David Greene’s journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok.
In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns sprinkled across the country’s snowy landscape, Greene speaks with ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the post-Soviet years.
These travels offer a glimpse of the new Russia a nation that boasts open elections and newfound prosperity but continues to endure oppression, corruption, a dwindling population, and stark inequality.
This is one of my favourite books about Siberia.
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Shallow Graves in Siberia
Shallow Graves in Siberia is a book written by Michael Krupa. Published in 2005, it recounts the author’s experiences as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union during and after World War II.
Michael Krupa, a Polish soldier, was captured by the Soviets and sent to various labour camps in Siberia. “Shallow Graves in Siberia” details his harrowing journey through the Gulag system, the brutal conditions he faced, and his struggle for survival. The title itself suggests the harsh realities of life in the Siberian labour camps.
If you’re interested in personal narratives of survival and the experiences of those who suffered in Soviet labour camps, Shallow Graves in Siberia is one of the best books about Siberia to read.
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The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia
The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia is written by Anna Reid and explores the history and culture of Siberia, focusing on the native peoples of the region and their traditional way of life, particularly the role of shamans.
Anna Reid is a British author and historian who has written several books on Russian and Soviet history. In “The Shaman’s Coat,” she delves into the history of Siberia, examining the impact of Russian colonization, the experiences of indigenous peoples, and the cultural significance of shamanism.
If you’re interested in Siberian history and culture, especially from the perspective of its indigenous peoples, this book gives you valuable insights.
It’s one of the best books about Siberia that focuses on the area’s original people.
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Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival
I’m putting this one last on this list as it’s the oldest one out of these books about Siberia.
Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival is a book written by George Kennan. It was first published in 1870 (told you it was old) and is a personal narrative of Kennan’s experiences during his travels through Siberia.
George Kennan, an American explorer and journalist, embarked on a journey across Siberia in the 1860s. His purpose was to document and study the penal system of the Russian Empire. “Tent Life in Siberia” provides a detailed account of his travels, offering insights into the geography, culture, and people of Siberia during that period.
The book is notable for its descriptions of the challenges Kennan faced, including the harsh weather, encounters with various ethnic groups, and insights into the Siberian penal system. It’s a firsthand account of the region during a time when Siberia was less explored and understood by the Western world.
If you’re interested in historical travel narratives, exploration, and accounts of life in remote and challenging environments, “Tent Life in Siberia” is a great book to read and one of the best books about Siberia in that regard.
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Siberia
Those are my favourite books about Siberia and I recommend reading them before visiting to give you a better understanding of the people and the region of Siberia.
As these books are set in Siberia, one of the coldest places on earth during the winter, you may be interested in more cold reading. In that case, these are 20 books about the Arctic and the Antarctic to read.
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