Description
A Pebble in the Sand
An Adventurer’s Collection
Vol 4: Siberia
After returning from a long, difficult and unusual expedition from a remote part of the world, I always feel a pressing need to share my experience. I agonize over the possibility that all of my collected information and experiences will be forgotten or lost altogether to others who might find my observations useful. I am well aware ‘ that my telling of the story can never properly convey the sensory experience—the smells , sights, sounds, tastes, and the myriad expressions of total strangers who left deep impressions on me.
In setting out to chronicle my initial foray into the world beyond my borders six decades ago, it became clear to me that all that I had experienced so long ago needed to be collected, retained and told today. That presented a daunting task as well as a challenge to my memory for the sequence of things and the fine details that easily escape recollection. I was pleasantly surprised as to how vividly and intact my information had stayed with me.
In reliving these moments of my life and reflecting how profoundly they affected me I am a great believer in following ones dreams–at any age. Very few things in this life are as rewarding and life affirming. I am also acutely aware that the images taken by an 18 year old boy with minimal photographic knowledge and a simple camera in 1958 don’t match the quality of images I would take today. But in looking over those images I captured back then, there is a primitive photographic quality that is a pure and simple expression of an early adventurer.
I have no doubt that my experience as a young boy planted the seed that created in me the lifelong desire to explore. I cannot begin to calculate the value of the subsequent journeys and discoveries over a lifetime (and I have no intention of staying put for my remaining years—the world still beckons and I am still curious to know more).
In the final analysis my exposure to the infinite diversity in this world connects me to all people in all places. For the direction and self-discovery that comes with that, I am enriched tenfold beyond the dreams of that young boy who so long ago dared to dream.
This book is my attempt to share my world with you.
—Pierre Odier, March 2018
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