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On the Run in Siberia
If I had let myself be ruled by reason alone, I would surely be lying dead somewhere or another in the Siberian frost.
The Siberian taiga: a massive forest region of roughly 4.5 million square miles, stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Bering Sea, breathtakingly beautiful and the coldest inhabited region in the world. Winter temperatures plummet to a bitter 97 degrees below zero, and beneath the permafrost lie the fossilized remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and other ice age giants. For the Yukaghir, an indigenous people of the taiga, hunting sable is both an economic necessity and a spiritual experience—where trusting dreams and omens is as necessary as following animal tracks. Since the fall of Communism, a corrupt regional corporation has monopolized the fur trade, forcing the Yukaghir hunters into impoverished servitude.
Enter Rane Willerslev, a young Danish anthropologist who ventures into this frozen land on an idealistic mission to organize a fair-trade fur cooperative with the hunters. From the outset, things go terribly wrong. The regional fur company, with ties to corrupt public officials, proves it will stop at nothing to maintain its monopoly: one of Willerslev’s Yukaghir business partners is arrested on spurious charges of poaching and illegal trading; another drowns mysteriously. When police are sent to arrest him, Willerslev fears for his life, and he and a local hunter flee to a remote hunting lodge even deeper in the icy wilderness. Their situation turns even more desperate right away: they manage to kill a moose but lose the meat to predators and begin to starve, frostbitten and isolated in the frozen taiga.
Thus begins Willerslev’s extraordinary, chilling tale of one year living in exile among Yukaghir hunters in the stark Siberian taiga region. At turns shocking and quietly moving, On the Run in Siberia is a pulse-pounding tale of idealism, political corruption, starvation, and survival (with a timely assist from Vladimir Putin) as well as a striking portrait of the Yukaghirs’ shamanistic tradition and their threatened way of life, a drama unfolding daily in one of the world’s coldest, most enthralling landscapes.
The Siberian taiga: a massive forest region of roughly 4.5 million square miles, stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Bering Sea, breathtakingly beautiful and the coldest inhabited region in the world. Winter temperatures plummet to a bitter 97 degrees below zero, and beneath the permafrost lie the fossilized remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and other ice age giants. For the Yukaghir, an indigenous people of the taiga, hunting sable is both an economic necessity and a spiritual experience—where trusting dreams and omens is as necessary as following animal tracks. Since the fall of Communism, a corrupt regional corporation has monopolized the fur trade, forcing the Yukaghir hunters into impoverished servitude.
Enter Rane Willerslev, a young Danish anthropologist who ventures into this frozen land on an idealistic mission to organize a fair-trade fur cooperative with the hunters. From the outset, things go terribly wrong. The regional fur company, with ties to corrupt public officials, proves it will stop at nothing to maintain its monopoly: one of Willerslev’s Yukaghir business partners is arrested on spurious charges of poaching and illegal trading; another drowns mysteriously. When police are sent to arrest him, Willerslev fears for his life, and he and a local hunter flee to a remote hunting lodge even deeper in the icy wilderness. Their situation turns even more desperate right away: they manage to kill a moose but lose the meat to predators and begin to starve, frostbitten and isolated in the frozen taiga.
Thus begins Willerslev’s extraordinary, chilling tale of one year living in exile among Yukaghir hunters in the stark Siberian taiga region. At turns shocking and quietly moving, On the Run in Siberia is a pulse-pounding tale of idealism, political corruption, starvation, and survival (with a timely assist from Vladimir Putin) as well as a striking portrait of the Yukaghirs’ shamanistic tradition and their threatened way of life, a drama unfolding daily in one of the world’s coldest, most enthralling landscapes.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
10 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Rane Willerslev
19 books37 followersRane Willerslev is a Danish anthropologist. In his academic career, he has travelled extensively and has a particular interest in primitive tribal cultures, both present and prehistoric. On 1 July 2017, he was appointed director of the National Museum of Denmark by Culture Minister Mette Bock.
In Denmark, Willerslev is a popular media personality, engaging in TV and radio shows, public panel debates, and interviews relating to his academic interests and his opinions on society and education at large. He has written and co-authored several books, including academic, fictional and biographic works.
In Denmark, Willerslev is a popular media personality, engaging in TV and radio shows, public panel debates, and interviews relating to his academic interests and his opinions on society and education at large. He has written and co-authored several books, including academic, fictional and biographic works.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 25, 2012
I love reading kismet. In its latest reincarnation, I read this book immediately after finishing BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY. Both take place in Siberia. BSofG is a historical novel about Lithuanians deported by the Soviets to Siberia in 1941; ON THE RUN IN SIBERIA is a true story about one anthropologist/adventurer's encounters with indigenious hunters in Siberia in 1997 and 2000 during the Khruschev/Putin era.
If you share my interest in real life political thrillers and anthropology, you will enjoy this book. The author, a very young and idealistic Swedish graduate student of anthropology living in Copenhagen, loves to pit himself against extreme nature while hunting in the Siberian taiga. In the process, he learns much about the economic, political, and spiritual fortunes of a small group of indigenous people, the Yukaghir, who Willerslev thinks are being victimized by new market forces and corruption. While the Yukaghir succumb to poverty, alcoholism, suicide, starvation, and accidental death, Willerslev tries to introduce a new way for them to market their very valuable sable furs in Copenhagen instead of St. Petersburg. In the process, he angers the local fur monopoly until he is on the run from the police who will arrest or kill him and starving to death in the depths of a Siberian winter. Although Willerslev likes to challenge himself, this time he may have dug himself a hole he can't climb out of.
The anthropologist in Willerslev is interested in the belief systems of the Yukaghir. His other book is SOUL HUNTERS: HUNTING, ANIMISM, AND PERSONHOOD AMONG THE SIBERIAN YUKAGHIRS. The Yukaghirs are a hunter/gatherer people whose language is unique. Unlike other native peoples in Siberia who raise cattle and horses, the Yukaghir are completely dependent on hunting for food and trade. It is a precarious and dangerous existence. And like many other peoples around the world, they share their world with the spirits who live in animals, plants, and material objects. In ON THE RUN IN SIBERIA, Willerslev has done an excellent job of explaining the Yukaghirs' particular brand of animism, shamanism, and reincarnation and how they interact with the spirits they live with.
If you share my interest in real life political thrillers and anthropology, you will enjoy this book. The author, a very young and idealistic Swedish graduate student of anthropology living in Copenhagen, loves to pit himself against extreme nature while hunting in the Siberian taiga. In the process, he learns much about the economic, political, and spiritual fortunes of a small group of indigenous people, the Yukaghir, who Willerslev thinks are being victimized by new market forces and corruption. While the Yukaghir succumb to poverty, alcoholism, suicide, starvation, and accidental death, Willerslev tries to introduce a new way for them to market their very valuable sable furs in Copenhagen instead of St. Petersburg. In the process, he angers the local fur monopoly until he is on the run from the police who will arrest or kill him and starving to death in the depths of a Siberian winter. Although Willerslev likes to challenge himself, this time he may have dug himself a hole he can't climb out of.
The anthropologist in Willerslev is interested in the belief systems of the Yukaghir. His other book is SOUL HUNTERS: HUNTING, ANIMISM, AND PERSONHOOD AMONG THE SIBERIAN YUKAGHIRS. The Yukaghirs are a hunter/gatherer people whose language is unique. Unlike other native peoples in Siberia who raise cattle and horses, the Yukaghir are completely dependent on hunting for food and trade. It is a precarious and dangerous existence. And like many other peoples around the world, they share their world with the spirits who live in animals, plants, and material objects. In ON THE RUN IN SIBERIA, Willerslev has done an excellent job of explaining the Yukaghirs' particular brand of animism, shamanism, and reincarnation and how they interact with the spirits they live with.
June 15, 2013
READ! That is, if this quote excites you:
"We are woken one night by the dogs barking like crazy. We open the cabin door and look out, but the darkness is too dense for us to see anything. The next morning, only a few hundred yards from the cabin, I discover some tracks in the snow. They are as wide as shovel blades, and only one animal could have left such tracks. I race back to Ivan, who stutters in a terrified voice, 'Shatun...' This is the Russian for a bear that prowls around in winter, desperately looking for food.
For the bear to be able to hibernate, it must have built up a decent store of fat underneath its fur. It must have something to consume during up to eight months of hibernation. But if, for some reason or another, it does not succeed, because of old age or injury, it cannot remain in hibernation but must go hunting. These bears are called shatun bears. They are crazy with hunger and will attack anything, including humans. What is worse, the body's condensed perspiration and the hard frost turn the bear's fur into a thick ice shell, serving as a kind of bulletproof armor. So you cannot be sure of killing a shatun bear unless you shoot it in the armpits or through the mouth, which is hard if it comes charging right at you.
Should you decide to hunt a shatun, it is essential to have your back covered, as the bear can come back in a circle, pursuing you in your own tracks, which completely reverses the situation. This happened to a hunter from Nelemnoye. The attacking bear sneaked up on him, scalped him, and tore his eye out. It is only because his son managed to get a lethal shot at the bear that the hunter survived."
"We are woken one night by the dogs barking like crazy. We open the cabin door and look out, but the darkness is too dense for us to see anything. The next morning, only a few hundred yards from the cabin, I discover some tracks in the snow. They are as wide as shovel blades, and only one animal could have left such tracks. I race back to Ivan, who stutters in a terrified voice, 'Shatun...' This is the Russian for a bear that prowls around in winter, desperately looking for food.
For the bear to be able to hibernate, it must have built up a decent store of fat underneath its fur. It must have something to consume during up to eight months of hibernation. But if, for some reason or another, it does not succeed, because of old age or injury, it cannot remain in hibernation but must go hunting. These bears are called shatun bears. They are crazy with hunger and will attack anything, including humans. What is worse, the body's condensed perspiration and the hard frost turn the bear's fur into a thick ice shell, serving as a kind of bulletproof armor. So you cannot be sure of killing a shatun bear unless you shoot it in the armpits or through the mouth, which is hard if it comes charging right at you.
Should you decide to hunt a shatun, it is essential to have your back covered, as the bear can come back in a circle, pursuing you in your own tracks, which completely reverses the situation. This happened to a hunter from Nelemnoye. The attacking bear sneaked up on him, scalped him, and tore his eye out. It is only because his son managed to get a lethal shot at the bear that the hunter survived."
July 31, 2012
A truly amazing story. And I learned about something I never knew before, the Siberian taiga and the natives who have survived there throughout Russian history. I recommend it to all my reading buddies. When I borrowed it from the library I thought I was getting a novel. What an amazing adventure story! I felt it was the right balance of history, science and memoir, which I prefer.
Rane was an idealistic anthropologist who thought he could single handedly change 300 years of fur trading history to create fair trade for taiga fur traders. If I met him I would love him right away. He is truly a good person who wants to change the world for the better. He is now doing that by holding on to his ideals and sharing them with his children. My eyes filled with tears of joy when I finished.
Rane was an idealistic anthropologist who thought he could single handedly change 300 years of fur trading history to create fair trade for taiga fur traders. If I met him I would love him right away. He is truly a good person who wants to change the world for the better. He is now doing that by holding on to his ideals and sharing them with his children. My eyes filled with tears of joy when I finished.
August 22, 2012
I think this was a pretty average "I'm a foreigner and I've spent significant time in Siberia doing exotic things" book. It would have been better if he had been able to write more about Yukaghir culture beyond just talking about hunting and the spiritual aspects of hunting. He was relatively honest about how naive he and his foreign partners were in setting out on their business development adventure, which was good, b/c it was abundantly clear that that part of the story wasn't going to end well. I'm curious what his command of Russian and Yukaghir were like.
July 26, 2012
Intriguing look at a culture running parallel in time, but a world away on any other level. Family dynamics, social standings, values, government control of an economy and the raw beauty of Siberia leaves a very interesting question: did the fall of communism help or hurt these people?.
September 18, 2012
A very interesting and well written book about one of the native hunting tribes of Siberia, and about the sable fur trade.
March 1, 2025
En utrolig fortælling om zobeljægere i Sibirien, som bliver udnyttet af mafialignende mennesker og en fortælling om deres levevis, hvor det åndelige har stor magt over deres gøren og laden.
Rane Willerslev har gode hensigter og forsøger at hjælpe jægerne i Sibirien. Det skal vise sig at være mere end vanskeligt og naivt, at tro man kan det i et land som Rusland.
RW ‘fletter ind’ i jægernes kultur med hvad det indebærer, men man kan godt savne nogle svar og beskrivelser på, hvordan det som dansker/vesterlænding opleves at leve med og i et helt anderledes samfund som pelsjægernes.
Det kunne være spændende at læse mere om de kulturelle forskelle, end blot beskrivelse af jægernes kultur.
Rane Willerslev har gode hensigter og forsøger at hjælpe jægerne i Sibirien. Det skal vise sig at være mere end vanskeligt og naivt, at tro man kan det i et land som Rusland.
RW ‘fletter ind’ i jægernes kultur med hvad det indebærer, men man kan godt savne nogle svar og beskrivelser på, hvordan det som dansker/vesterlænding opleves at leve med og i et helt anderledes samfund som pelsjægernes.
Det kunne være spændende at læse mere om de kulturelle forskelle, end blot beskrivelse af jægernes kultur.
August 5, 2017
Forfatteren skriver selv ( s. 183): 'Til trods for mine rationalistiske og sobre idealer har jeg i min inderste sjæl været en storromantiker, et fjols.'
Der er intet i læsningen af denne klynkende og selvoptagede jereminade, der på nogen måde afkræfter dette.
Når dertil lægges en skriftlig formidlingsevne, der er ekstremt velpositioneret for såvidt angår drastiske forbedringsmuligheder er resultatet ikke blot en manglende anbefaling af at læse bogen, men en direkte advarsel mod et spilde tiden dermed.
Der er intet i læsningen af denne klynkende og selvoptagede jereminade, der på nogen måde afkræfter dette.
Når dertil lægges en skriftlig formidlingsevne, der er ekstremt velpositioneret for såvidt angår drastiske forbedringsmuligheder er resultatet ikke blot en manglende anbefaling af at læse bogen, men en direkte advarsel mod et spilde tiden dermed.
December 21, 2017
En selvberetning om en ung idealistisk antropolog, der uforvarent ender som pelsjæger i den sibiriske tundra, overlever en række barske manddomsprøver og finder ind i en arkaisk religiøsitet/åndetro. Meget spændende og sympatisk. Forfatteren er netop indsat som direktør for Nationalmuseet. Og han har skrevet en ny bog (om ledelse), Tænk Vildt. Vil det lykkes ham at bringe vildmarken ind i offentlig ledelse, eller vil denne jage ham ud i naturen igen? Det vil jeg holde øje med.
January 9, 2021
Det sidste nøk for at denne (lyd)bog skulle have 5 stjerner, var at høre Rane fortælle sin historie selv. Vanvittige oplevelser, der forståeligt nok har bidt sig fast i sindet.
Det er en historie jeg sagtens kunne finde på at genlæse senere hen.
Det er en historie jeg sagtens kunne finde på at genlæse senere hen.
April 16, 2018
Lidt små kedeligt.
Read
February 10, 2023En fin læseoplevelse. Det krævede dog lidt for mig at blive rigtig fanget af bogen.
June 14, 2017
Did not deliver. I have to assume the publishers picked the title and carefully crafted the back cover description to make this seem a whole lot more like a Dan Brown novel than it is (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).
There really was very little in the way of pursuit or evasion, little in terms of trying to overcome obstacles presented by the mob or the Russian bureaucracy, and very little in terms of survival tactics or adventure. What survival aspects there were seem to have been the result of poor planning rather than kismet.
Perhaps most disappointing was that there was only a cursory and rudimentary description of the Yukaghir in terms of their language, customs, their struggles, and the prospects for their future. The author does delve into the spirituality of the Yukaghir and their relationship to their environment, perhaps owing to his apparent personal affinity for same.
The low point had to be when the author plays the role of a local for a stretch - drinking, fighting, sleeping with the locals - and then wonders, "should I stay here and become a hunter?" Please.
Overall, pretty disappointing given what I had hoped for in terms of a study of the natural splendor and inherent adventure of Siberia, the plight of indigenous peoples, and the new Russia.
There really was very little in the way of pursuit or evasion, little in terms of trying to overcome obstacles presented by the mob or the Russian bureaucracy, and very little in terms of survival tactics or adventure. What survival aspects there were seem to have been the result of poor planning rather than kismet.
Perhaps most disappointing was that there was only a cursory and rudimentary description of the Yukaghir in terms of their language, customs, their struggles, and the prospects for their future. The author does delve into the spirituality of the Yukaghir and their relationship to their environment, perhaps owing to his apparent personal affinity for same.
The low point had to be when the author plays the role of a local for a stretch - drinking, fighting, sleeping with the locals - and then wonders, "should I stay here and become a hunter?" Please.
Overall, pretty disappointing given what I had hoped for in terms of a study of the natural splendor and inherent adventure of Siberia, the plight of indigenous peoples, and the new Russia.
April 29, 2013
OK, this was a provocative book, mostly due to its setting. In the far reaches of Siberia (Yakutsk) are people who's reality is shaped by the climate (cold and brutal), the politics (Russian and brutal), and economics (brutal). Enter a Danish anthropologist, our author, who has a plan to make this all better by his naive plan to change three hundred years of culture, tradition, and economics related to the harvesting of sable pelts. It doesn't work. Rane Willerslev puts others at risk, nearly kills himself and his quixotic quest has no realistic chance of success.
However, the story that unfolds is mesmerizing, not because of what the author/anthropologist/egomaniac does, but how what he does, creates a story which gives us a chance to see into this culture. So maybe he succeeds, and in many ways he does. His writing and his knowledge of the the people in the book (Yasghir) comes through and make this a good read. I'm not too sure about his judgment though. 3.8/5.0
However, the story that unfolds is mesmerizing, not because of what the author/anthropologist/egomaniac does, but how what he does, creates a story which gives us a chance to see into this culture. So maybe he succeeds, and in many ways he does. His writing and his knowledge of the the people in the book (Yasghir) comes through and make this a good read. I'm not too sure about his judgment though. 3.8/5.0
February 25, 2013
Wow - what a weird book! Before I read it, thought it was fictional, but claims not to be. Young Danish scientist/explorer becomes involved in Siberian fur trade (to help a struggling local community). Comfortable in the wilderness, in hunting, living rough - thinks he understands post-soviet society and fur trade - but finds out that he doesn't! Living with remote Siberian community, endangered, fur trade a failure! Fascinating, well-written, glad I'm not living in Siberia!
May 9, 2013
This is a well written story and interesting, but it is not my typical read. I liked it, but I found it easy to step away from and my 3 star rating is more indicative of how it rates in terms of my personal interest than how the book was written. If you like nonfiction and anthropology, this will fascinate you.
May 1, 2014
Very interesting. The author accidentally falls into the corrupt world of Russian government monopolies whilst trying to help the indigenous people of northern Russia sell their animal hides. Scary and sad to read about the hopelessness of some of these peoples. However it is also an inspiration to see how these people and survive with some of their culture intact alongside the modern world.
July 25, 2013
I had hoped to use this book for class but it wasn't quite that good. Great adventure story. Lots of excellent cultural tidbits. But the writing is uneven and while parts of the story are interesting and educational other parts just drag on
July 8, 2016
Great adventure story as well as informative about life of the indigenous people in Siberia, a hint of Soviet history, and pursuit of social justice. Not for everyone but if you like adventures this is a great read!
June 12, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews