Saimaa, a living lake

Lake Saimaa is the largest lake in Finland and in many ways the most unusual. It forms a labyrinth of narrow sounds and open waters that stretches all the way from Lappeenranta to Varkaus and Joensuu. It has almost 14 000 islands and skerries in it, and enough shoreline to run a third of the way round the Equator. People have lived and made their homes on its shores for thousands of years. They have fished in it, tilled the land beside it, dug for iron ore, transported and processed timber, travelled by boat on it, propelled by oars, sails or steam, for work and pleasure, produced skilful paintings on the rocks and sung in operas. And somewhere in the midst of all the bewhiskered old boys of Saimaa, a solitary recluse and the endangered ringed seal, sit thinking about the lake and its future.

Saimaa — a Living Lake is a multidisciplinary, multipurpose collection of articles by 40 experts on Saimaa edited by Docent Esko Kuusisto. It is at once a comprehensive source of information and an enthralling experience to read. The illustrations are mostly the work of photographers who themselves live on the shores of Lake Saimaa.