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Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future
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About This Book
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year // An Economist Best Book of 2023 // A Scientific American Best Book of 2023 // SEJ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award, 2nd Place // Shortlisted for the Banff Centre Mountain Book Awards 2023 A global exploration of the eight remaining species of bears―and the dangers they face. Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenth-century fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction. Some, such as the panda bear and the polar bear, are icons of the natural world; others, such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear, are far less known. In Eight Bears, journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globe-trotting journey to explore each bear's story, whisking readers from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West. She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation efforts—the head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms, a biologist known as Papa Panda, who has led China's panda-breeding efforts for almost four decades, a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near towns—to reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations. Weaving together ecology, history, mythology, and a captivating account of her travels and observations, Dickie offers a closer look at our volatile relationship with these magnificent mammals. Engrossing and deeply reported, Eight Bears delivers a clear warning for what we risk losing if we don't learn to live alongside the animals that have shaped our cultures, geographies, and stories.
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Reviews
"As species-wide portraits go, this one is stunningly diverse."
"The searching accounts of threats faced by bears across the globe illuminate the struggles conservationists face, and the crisp prose will transport readers."
"There is a lot to learn here ..."
"Gloomy in outlook but a cleareyed view of the world's bears and the many threats they face."
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