Can you detach yourself from the human world? Leave behind the city and its daily grind to go live on the far side of the planet? Sylvain Tesson set himself this very challenge. From February to July 2010, the writer and traveler chose to experience Siberia from late winter through spring. He lived alone in a cabin on the shore of Lake Baikal, surrendering to silence and choosing to live life at a slow pace, surrounded by books, vodka, and memories. Without disturbing nature but instead, communing with it in extended introspection, Tesson walked, explored, fished, ice skated on the lake, and accepted the hospitality of the few neighbours he had.