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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
though the title is somewhat misleading (this book is more about the death of this bear than it is the life,) it is written so beautifully and i was both engaged and absolutely devastated throughout this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood
Minor: Animal death
Beautiful and evocative. Ponders challenging conservation issues with a sense of urgency, but without passing judgement on the stakeholders caught in no-win situations. Looking forward to reading more by Bruce Andrews.
hopeful
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
sad
fast-paced
I thought it was interesting having Bryce’s I put from the field and the strong story of human-wildlife conflict. Even though he was not a fan of zoos from what I could tell, he still appreciated the purpose (and second chance for some animals) and observed the VAST encounters/array of appreciation and knowledge base of the general public/visitors at zoos. Humans are such a huge impact on the chain of events with ecosystems and wildlife, which can be disastrous or beautiful and respectful.
“There are so many of us now. If we each do a little wrong, it will still be enough to consume and destroy what I hold dear. ... In my lower moments, it seems I could... make no headway against our epidemic lack of restraint.”
This is a heartbreaking account of a bear and her cubs, and what happens to them when humans move too close to their world. This is an account of Grizzly Bears in Montana, but could easily be about wolves in Canada, Condors in California, or sea turtles in Hawaii. Humans are spreading out, building and farming in these animal territories, and it is the animals that pay the price.
Bryce Andrews is a sensitive, careful writer, and his prose both educates and evokes great emotion. How Andrews writes about farming reminds me of Wendell Berry, and his curiosity and love for wildlife puts him in the rank of Sy Montgomery. This is an important book, and everyone should read it.
This is a heartbreaking account of a bear and her cubs, and what happens to them when humans move too close to their world. This is an account of Grizzly Bears in Montana, but could easily be about wolves in Canada, Condors in California, or sea turtles in Hawaii. Humans are spreading out, building and farming in these animal territories, and it is the animals that pay the price.
Bryce Andrews is a sensitive, careful writer, and his prose both educates and evokes great emotion. How Andrews writes about farming reminds me of Wendell Berry, and his curiosity and love for wildlife puts him in the rank of Sy Montgomery. This is an important book, and everyone should read it.
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was similar to but not quite as engrossing as “American Wolf” (by Nate Blakeslee) in that they both dealt with the life and ultimate demise of an endangered apex predator in the American West. Both books capture the perilous existence of these animals as their habitat is encroached on more and more and their foraging needs push against human activity and indifference. It’s a sad tale, but at least the author, who so clearly is looking out for the benefit of these animals, outlines his own personal plans to upkeep the remaining small number of grizzlies in that area.
Bryce is a morose, self-absorbed, judgmental narrator. He likes the selfish dairy farmer who for some reason is raising dairy cattle and corn in prime grizzly country. But all those selfish “hobby farmers!” They’re the problem! And then the book ends with him becoming a “not like the other hobby farmers” hobby farmer himself. The problem is overcrowding with people in these areas and yet he himself has moved from Seattle to play at ranchhand and then become a Montana hobby farmer. He’s awfully understanding of all the ranchers (no mention of all the negative impacts of cattle on climate change). He’s very sentimental and romantic about nature. Everything bad done is anthropogenic! Wildlife doesn’t suffer, nature isn’t cruel! He goes on and on about his boring fence project whereas all I wanted to hear more about were the cool tribal bear biologists. He is judgmental about zoos and rescues and shows very little understanding of how they work. He judges visitors at the zoo. His last few pages are filled with melodramatic defeatist bitching about how much people suck. This book just had nothing inspiring or particularly educational. The science was very pop sci and digestible, with very little numbers or concrete facts you can sink your teeth into. It gets so repetitive too— the descriptions of the main area of focus and what bears eat and that they’re nocturnal. We get it. Much of the parts about the bears is fictionalized ideas of what he imagines the bear would’ve been up to. It’s not badly written. It just feels like a relatively minor part of the book. And also, in my line of work, I disliked a lot of the way he described the bear’s injury and how it was handled. Just love hearing inexperienced people giving their opinions and making judgements, without really knowing anything about it.
He often goes into how the bears make him feel or how he would imagine they feel. He gives us his opinion on everything. I’m sure he’s a smart guy, but I’m more interested in the thoughts of the experts he interviews. He doesn’t do enough to establish his own credibility. He come across like he’s so special for being this urban Seattlite who discovered natures and REALLY GETS IT, YOU GUYS. No one else really gets it like he does. Maybe I’ve just read too much in this “genre” on this topic. Bored me to tears and felt so superficial and heavily biased.
The writing is often pretty, I’ll give him that. But geez, give the readership some calls to action! What changes CAN be made? Why write a book like this?
He often goes into how the bears make him feel or how he would imagine they feel. He gives us his opinion on everything. I’m sure he’s a smart guy, but I’m more interested in the thoughts of the experts he interviews. He doesn’t do enough to establish his own credibility. He come across like he’s so special for being this urban Seattlite who discovered natures and REALLY GETS IT, YOU GUYS. No one else really gets it like he does. Maybe I’ve just read too much in this “genre” on this topic. Bored me to tears and felt so superficial and heavily biased.
The writing is often pretty, I’ll give him that. But geez, give the readership some calls to action! What changes CAN be made? Why write a book like this?
I love nature stories like this beautifully written book, which explores on a personal level what happens as the edges of wilderness vanish and whether man and grizzly can one day coexist. I read this one following our trip to Glacier National Park, as a companion piece to Night of the Grizzlies.