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Among Grizzlies

Among Grizzlies

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Among Grizzlies
Review: This book is terrible!! It's the same thing over and over. Treadwell names his bears and gives you the same boaring synopsis of their days events; digging clams, waking him up during the night, etc. And let's not forget about "Timmy the Fox!!" It's more exciting reiterating my pet hamsters daily schedule!! You would be better off reading Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Don't waste your money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Book on Bears
Review: This is a great book. If one reads it with an open mind, takes into account the attention Tim is drawing to the plight of these animals, and let's him do his thing regardless of past problems, you will come away with a respect and even fondness for these beautiful animals. I wouldn't do what Tim is doing, but God bless him for doing it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Three Cheers for Tim and the Grizzlies
Review: Among Grizzlies is one of those books you will either love or hate, as the other reviews in this list illustrate. No, Tim doesn't have a death wish. And no, he is not faking it, although he does adorn his tale with a bit of artistic license. Just as hunters often exaggerate the danger of killing bears, and especially their own bravery and skill, Tim has accidently done the same thing in his story of his "pioneering" experiences living with them peacefully. He was far from the first to "achieve" this, just the first to write a book about it. Success in living with these grizzlies does require skills that are unusual; he learned them and you could too. An even bigger factor in success is the unusual tolerance of grizzly bears on coastal Alaska (and of black bears in most areas, especially outside Alaska) -- as Tim makes clear. Wandering among a herd of black angus cattle is riskier.

An example of his artistic license is writing of being the first person into an area he calls the Forbidden Zone -- without revealing that it was actually the site of a major clamming industry in the distant past, and is regularly visited by bear-watches. He writes about how bears chose to sleep near his tent, as though attracted to him -- without revealing that he is the one who chooses to camp where they would be sleeping anyway. Claims about the closeness of his relationships with the bears need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tim does not pretend to be a scientist, but he makes many statements that could be mistaken as scientific. For example, the weight he gives for each grizzly is just a guess. When he writes about how big boars normally eat razor clams shell and all, whereas sows do not, he is apparently unaware that the few bears he watched closely for a few days aren't typical.

With all those limitations, why do I give the book a 5-star rating and 3 cheers? Because it has no more limitations than most adventure books on bears, while offering a wealth of insights about grizzly behavior that will be new to the general public. It's a wonderful book, written with great warmth. It paints a much more typical picture of bears than more sensationalistic books like Kanuit's "Alaska Bear Tales" ... and "Some Bears Kill". For although such books may be carefully researched, they focus on the relatively rare circumstances where a bear attacks someone, and even rarer cases where the person is killed. Bears actually spend very little time in aggression, even against each other. Most of their time is spent feeding. Even affectionate nuzzling or play commonly occupies more time than aggression, as Tim describes with great charm.

Tim is far from the only person to camp out with grizzlies on the coasts of Alaska. But he was the first to spend so many seasons (now 11) in the same areas, getting to know individual bears exceedingly well. He can identify over thirty bears by sight without having to put collars or ear tags on them. He has known some of these bears through three generations. Cubs trust him because their mother trusts him, because her mother did. There are only a small handful of people who have ever known bears so personally, and no one else who has known so many individual grizzlies so well.

If he seems obsessed with stopping bear hunting, think of how you might feel about dolphins, whales, gorillas or chimpanzees being killed for sport. Think of how you would feel if your dog or cat were shot. Once you know bears as individuals, it's hard to accept the idea that they have less right to live than to die for the kicks of anyone with a hunting license and a gun. Tim has done his best to "give back to the bears" by campaigning against hunting, and by trying to teach people that they can be as friendly as giant dogs.

If he can ever get past embellishing his experiences to make them more entertaining (perpetuating his own myths) and begin working more closely with scientists, he could play an invaluable role in grizzly conservation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Doing what he's passionate about.....
Review: Timothy Treadwell has realized his passion in life and has decided to take on the feat of not only educating himself, but the world around him. This is not a children's book nor an encylopedia. This is this story of a man who struggled to find his purpose, found it, and now wants to help others understand it.

I have never been an animal advocate until now. Timothy's beautiful narration of his adventures to the Grizzly Sanctuary have helped me to better understand the horrible turmoils of another species. His stories of Booble, Mr. Chocolate, and Timmy the Fox are those that convey the complexity of the wild and its' relationship with man. This book is meant to educate the layman through incredible photography and narration.

I highly reccomend this book to anyone with even a slight interest in grizzlies. The information is compelling and informational. Kudos to Timothy for telling his story through photography, scientific information, and beautiful narration.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A man with a vision
Review: Before I read this book, I already loved bears. After reading the book, I felt that the grizzlies of Alaska are lucky to have an advocate like Timothy. I feel like I know each of the bears personally, because of his wonderful descriptions of them. He is a special man with a special vison. I wish I had his courage. The world is lucky to have someone who is so passionate about an animal that is considered by most to be a savage beast.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great inspirational book, best book I've ever read!!!
Review: This book is a very inspirational book, the best book I've ever read. It tells about a guy who was stuck on tons of drugs. He changed his life and began a new career. He goes to the "Grizzly Sancuary" to take care and live with the wild Alaskan Grizzlies. I'd really suggest getting this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Video supports Treadwell
Review: Alot of people dismissed Tim as a phony, but anyone who saw the Discovery Channel program "Grizzly Diaries" can see first hand that his accounts are 100% accurate. Tim has saved bears from death...it's the poachers that need to be dealt with...Alaska authorities should be enforcing the anti-poaching laws. Tim says "Don't do what I do, you may get hurt." I highly recommend the book!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dangerously naive self-absorption disguised as a nature book
Review: After reading the book and seeing the author and his footage of harassing bears on talk shows, this irresponsible behavior needs a lengthy disclaimer. The publisher should be ashamed of encouraging grizzley/human interactions. The griz deserves much more respect.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A great book .....for Walt Disney.
Review: I think Timothy Treadwells' heart is in the right place, but I feel his grasp on reality has been altered by his past history of self abuse. I started to read his book with the best of intentions but after a few pages, I really started to doubt this guys sanity. There is no way a person so totally unfamiliar with bears could have survived so many chance encounters and walk away without so much as a scratch. Sorry dude, but I think childrens books might be a better literary choice for your story telling abilities.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: . . . but, what about the information about bear behavior
Review: . . I count 18 books on my shelf about grizzlies and that doesn't count the ones I checked out of the library. No other book yet has given me the insight into grizzly behavior that this one has. Validation comes in the fact that Roland Cheek comes to the same conclusions in his book "Learning to talk Bear so the bears can listen" from an entirely different direction, that of a hunting guide. I agree that their are things to dislike about the book but someday we may look back on this book as amazing after the scientist have the money and time to catch up with this off the wall experiment. Remember many times in the past non-scientists have made the breakthrough's in animal behavior because they don't have to worry about their reputations. Publishing books about predators in the US is such a political thing . . I have to give any author who does it a hand for bravery. Remember, there are large groups of people who want us to remain totally scared of being in the wild and want to eradicate those horrible animals for us so we can feel safe.


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