“The Book of the River” is a fascinating story sparkling with humor by a writer by profession and a solo yachtsman by hobby, Vladimir Kravchenko, who set off on a sailing kayak on a trip along the Volga in the late 90s to write a book of travel prose about what he saw, experienced and over-felt. Among the heroes are Volga captains and priests, hermit monks and city mayors, museum directors and a newspaper editor, reserve restorers, yachtsmen, foresters, archaeologists, psychics, divers, buoy men, scourges, poachers and many others. The book is written in the best traditions of the river alarm , the author managed to combine fiction and documentary, convey the excitement of a traveler and talk about space, time, and the history of the great river. The mystery of searching and overcoming, a real encyclopedia of the modern Volga, born during an unprecedented journey.