Chasing the Panda: How an Unlikely Pair of Adventurers Won the Race to Capture the Mythical White Bear

Rating:
Summary: Interesting read
Review: Although not exactly what I was expecting, this book was in interesting read about the Chinese naturalists and their involvement in how the West first came to know the giant panda. This book detailed many historical facts about how Western naturalists, with the aid of a couple of Chinese, moved through China and collected many specimens for display in the US. I recommend it to anyone who has a deep interest in the giant panda and the history behind our current love affair with these black and white bears.

Rating:
Summary: Chasing the Panda
Review: An Adventure Story From the 1930s featuring a rich American widow, a young Asian-American, & the first panda to be caught alive.

Rating:
Summary: Chasing the Panda
Review: An Adventure Story From the 1930s featuring a rich American widow, a young Asian-American, & the first panda to be caught alive.

Rating:
Summary: An Eclectic Escape, and in Non-Fiction
Review: Kiefer provides an eclectic escape that covers nature, people, politics and history...and all within the confines of a true tale! I will never gawk at those cute bears the same way again, knowing the story of their "discovery" and what that story tells us of the specific times--and the general nature of people. The read is "light," yet one learns a bit along the way. This is my version of a nearly perfect summer read. A romantic "novel" for thinking persons.

Rating:
Summary: Worthy Effort, But Polluted with Gossip & Inuendo
Review: The characters and their true to life tale of adventure keep this book going, but the author has watched too much Hard Copy or Entertainment Tonight and seems to dwell on the sex lives and personal failures of many of the principals, which have nothing to add to the overall search for the pandas. He seems to have exploited his relationship with Quentin Young, which takes away from the dignity of the story. Nonetheless, I would recommend the book as an interesting read and one of only a few on the subject.