Scan barcode
ahemily's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
saint_eleanor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.5
This book was so incredibly informative I did not realize how much bear information I had been missing! It was quite devastating particularly the chapter about the Vietnamese practice of harvesting moon/sun bear bile for medicine and aphrodisiac, which I had no idea about. As well as the ignorant practices of yellowstone campers, torturing bears into dancing bears in India, and the misconceptions about spectacled bears in Latin America. I also learned that polar bears are the only bears who can smell period blood which confirms that they are the scariest bear lmao. I wanted to know a little bit more about the author while she was writing it but otherwise this was awesome.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
chamomiledaydreams's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.0
I've always liked bears, so this book's title and cover caught my eye almost instantly. It was great to learn about the eight different bear species, especially the ones that are less present in popular culture, and I appreciated how the chapters often referenced famous literary bears such as Paddington. I would've been happy to read a longer version of this book.
My main critique is that some sections fall into the trap of exotifying non-white people and their cultures. Nothing seems ill-intentioned, but I noticed trends such as people of color's features being compared to food. Take this phrase, for example: "a young man from Kolkata with curly black hair and kind caramel eyes." The phrase itself appears innocuous, but it is part of a larger trend in literature that treats people of color as part of an exotic background, using food-related descriptions to entice readers at the cost of the characters' humanity. In the case of "Eight Bears," all of the people described are real, which makes these lavish descriptions a different kind of uncomfortable. I would rather someone be described as "a scientist who specializes in neurochemistry" than "a spry woman with luscious dark locks and chocolate-colored eyes."
My main critique is that some sections fall into the trap of exotifying non-white people and their cultures. Nothing seems ill-intentioned, but I noticed trends such as people of color's features being compared to food. Take this phrase, for example: "a young man from Kolkata with curly black hair and kind caramel eyes." The phrase itself appears innocuous, but it is part of a larger trend in literature that treats people of color as part of an exotic background, using food-related descriptions to entice readers at the cost of the characters' humanity. In the case of "Eight Bears," all of the people described are real, which makes these lavish descriptions a different kind of uncomfortable. I would rather someone be described as "a scientist who specializes in neurochemistry" than "a spry woman with luscious dark locks and chocolate-colored eyes."
badatplants's review against another edition
4.0
Listen, it’s a really good and important and well written book. But you really do need to love bears to get into it I promise
rerooff's review against another edition
It was so long and I never had the motivation to finish it. I’ll maybe pick it up later down the road.
mwmakar's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Realistic but tinged with hope and chock full of cool info. The Sun Bear situation is truly depressing, the panda cultural history is fascinating, kind of hopeful, and illustrative both of broader ecological stories & Chinese world-citizenry.
The book kept touching on, but not really broaching, the impacts to ecosystems of losing bears. Wolves are needed to trim deer populations, how do bears balance and cycle into their ecosystems?
The book kept touching on, but not really broaching, the impacts to ecosystems of losing bears. Wolves are needed to trim deer populations, how do bears balance and cycle into their ecosystems?