I've never been very curious about bears but I was in the mood for a nature audiobook this week. There was a period of my life where I had regular nightmares involving bears, but that was the extent of my relationship with bears. This book was so informative and engaging. I even teared up a few times. In the few days it took me to listen to this book, I could not shut up about all the amazing and upsetting things I've learned about bears. I still have a healthy fear of bears, and this book may have even added to it with the descriptions of attacks, but I'm really fascinated by them now. This is one of the best nonfiction books I've listened to/read. 

I have tried hard to nurture my love for nonfiction this year and I think I have really succeeded at finding a niche that is perfect and interesting for me. I love microhistories at the center of science and nature, and Eight Bears fits that description so well. This is an incredibly well-written, well-researched book about the eight remaining bear species on Earth and their respective histories and futures. It is so informative and so devastating, and I think it's an important read for everyone.

The author did well to make the longest and most in-depth chapters of her book focus on the lesser-known bear species, like the sloth bear, spectacled bear, and sun and moon bears. I am so glad she did. I appreciated the mix between textbook-like factual information about the bears and their history juxtaposed by the author's visits to the bears' native habitats and primary accounts of the species. The chapter about the sun and moon bears was, in particular, gut wrenching. I was very close to tears and we all know by now that books don't make me cry.

I appreciated the pragmatic approach to talking about the futures of these bears, which was sad and blunt without hyperbole, or including false hope to make the reader feel better. Frankly, I wish this book was longer and included more information. I'm trying not to let it affect my rating too much, but I also didn't love the audiobook narrator for this. Her voice wasn't particularly grating, but it's a pet peeve of mine when narrators pronounce foreign names and places in a very butchered/Americanized way, and a large portion of this book involved foreign travel and experiencing other cultures. Just unfortunate.

Overall, I think this is a must-read for people to understand how delicate our planet is and the impact we can have on it. I will absolutely read anything else Gloria Dickie puts out. What a delightful debut.