When a writer as indefatigable as Ian Frazier tackles a subject as riveting and multifaceted as the northern third of Asia, then you get a remarkable study like TRAVELS IN SIBERIA (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30). Criss-crossing Siberia’s eight time zones—traveling mostly via automobile, lodging with locals or camping outside—Frazier explores the land, history, literature, and people of this vast, stunningly diverse region that technically doesn’t exist, politically or geographically. This meaty tome centers on a series of trips Frazier took to far-eastern Russia (“the greatest horrible country in the world”) between 1993 and 2009. His trademark mix of serious reportage and contagious curiosity makes Travels in Siberia an essential modern classic.
