Really loved the combination of history, environment, and a kind of anthropology relating to the mythology and human fascination with different kinds of bears. Interesting read!

Know what you’re getting into before you open up this book.
Note - it reads well as an audiobook, although I barely didn’t finish. It’s slow and boring, but passionate and educational. Would be good for activists or educators.

This took a long time to finish. I found some chapters more interesting than others, and I wish it did not end on the polar bear chapter as it was one of the most depressing in terms of bear outlook

This was a good overview of bears, how we’ve thought about them in the past and how we interact with them today.

Interesting:
- bile from bears and human medical use.
- polar bears and brown bears can mate together (pizzly bear)
- some brown bears are black and some black bears are brown??
- sloth bears are very deadly. Not so sloth
- interesting that bear hunting is part of “manifest destiny” type attitude, which crops up again today.
- cloud bears in Andes are losing their habitat

Audiobook. Quite lengthy. The stories about being mauled were vicious and made my stomach turn. The story wasn’t told with passion, it was neutral in the storytelling. I expected a wrap-up and imploring readers to join the fight to save the bears…..I thought at the end of each chapter there would be advice given on how to save each type of bear, and what you as the reader could do to help or organizations to donate to.