Vladimir Serkin Хохот шамана - Khokhot shamana The Shaman's Laugh AST, Moscow 2008, 284 pages Vladimir Serkin is professor of psychology in the north eastern region of Siberia. He encountered an unusual man while building a holiday cottage for hunting and fishing outside of the Tundra town at the end of the 1990s. The man lived in a remote hut and was of course known to everybody as “the shaman”. Serkin begins visiting this shaman, engaging in long conversations with him. It turns out that the shaman is no way a recluse but people are not the only creatures with whom he interacts. He communicates with animals and plants, opens his senses to fragrances, to the ice, to the wind, to the trees and also to invisible beings. He engages in unusual practices which enable him to use powers not available to normal people. The shaman combines the quintessential wisdom of the ancient peoples of the north with the intellect of a modern city dweller. He is no stranger to the town (Magadan) which he visits every now and again. During these visits he is hardly any different to a normal town resident. Yet even when communing with nature and the spirits he appears entirely rational and practical. Astounding practices, one of which is the shaman’s laugh, and not a trace of mysticism are what the professor encounters. This book is derived from Serkin’s notes recording the impressions gained during his visits to the shaman, as well as from the notes of his discussions with the shaman which Serkin carried out over the years. During these dialogues Serkin often begins with a naive question deriving from his observations of the shaman’s way of life. The latter answers patiently but seldom as directly or immediately as the scientist and psychologist Serkin is used to. Serkin’s book avoids rash interpretations. He lets the reader take part in his unique encounters with someone who lives in another dimension, who has a different wisdom and genuine freedom and clarity of consciousness. These dialogues contain the key to a completely different view of the world.