A review by cmcarr
Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie

informative medium-paced

3.75

I was really interested to learn about the 8 remaining species of bears, and especially to understand how many species we've lost.  I know my neighbor Grizzly and Black bears fairly well, but was really interested to learn about some of the others like the Sloth bear, Sun and Moon bear.  The book is well researched and I learned a lot.  At times it felt a little random as to what aspects of the bear were focused on.  In theory, it was tied to the experience of the author visiting certain places and talking with certain people.  But I found myself wondering why there was a focus on certain parts of a bear's history (and present) and wondering what I was missing.  That being said, it was nice to have a manageable sized book to get a good grounding in the 8 species.  The bottom line is that bear relationships with humans have not worked out well for the bears, and many species are imperiled.