Rating: 
Summary: Morbid, but fun for some of us, and useful for others
Review:
Why would you want to read this book?
You could be morbidly fascinated by stories of people's demises. You'll enjoy the book. Whittlesey provides a rich collection of stories, no two alike.
You might enjoy reading about stupid people so that you can feel superior to them. If you like the "Darwin Awards," about people who improve the gene pool by dying as a result of their own mind-boggling stupidity, you'll like this book. My favorite was the swan dive into the hot spring pool.
You might be thinking about going to Yellowstone, and you didn't realize that it might be dangerous. Well, it might be. So is life. Whittlesey includes heart attacks, auto accidents and murders, all of which might occur anywhere. Some stories are good cautionary stories about the dangers of being unprepared in the outdoors. He also includes those stupid people I mentioned in the last paragraph.
If you didn't know that bison are Very Large Animals Who Could Hurt You, you might want to read this book so that you don't fall over a waterfall.
Don't play with the bears, either. I've seen people try to play with two mating bears, while two rangers chased the idiot across a hillside of fallen trees. We don't pay the rangers enough.
It's hard to put this book down. I'm ashamed to admit that I read it entirely in Yellowstone bookstores, but I'm atoning for that by telling you to buy it. I wish I had bought it, so that I could read it again right now.
Rating: 
Summary: this book could save your life
Review: I read this book in a few days this summer while in Yellowstone after a friend picked it up in the bookstore (I pilfered it from him and would not give it back until I was finished, despite his pleading.) Reading this book could absolutely save your life in Yellowstone (and other wilderness situations); as other reviewers have mentioned, some of the possible dangers don't truly seem life-threatening if you haven't thought about them as such.
I must admit that before reading this I was hanging a bit over the hot spring boardwalks to take better pictures (I was *never* dumb or careless enough to actually step off or stick my hand in!!), but after reading the absolutely horrific accounts of death by boiling alive I was almost reluctant to even get out of the car at any springs afterwards! I learned from this book that something as seemingly-innocuous as lip balm can attract bears - I therefore spent a few sleepless nights in my tent listening for bears entering camp and waiting for them to rip into me (melodramatic, perhaps, but quite scary when you're in a tent in the middle of the wilderness.)
Anyway, this book was gripping enough to keep me engrossed for days on end while in the park, and certainly gave me a refresher lesson about respecting mother nature.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting, educational, and entertaining.
Review: A fascinating book about all the people who have died in Yellowstone (excluding auto accidents and illness). It seems strange that a book about death would be fun to read, but I definitely enjoyed this one. It also gives some good examples of what NOT to do when in Yellowstone. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has been to Yellowstone or is interested in the park.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting page turner with theme: "Don't Be Stupid"
Review: At first glance, it sounds like a morbid book. Two hundred seventy six pages about people who have died in various ways in Yellowstone National Park. In reality, it is a fascinating book with an underlying message of safety and caution in National Parks. You might expect a book which is written by an historian to have an academic tone and be full of footnotes and an extensive bibliography. "Death in Yellowstone" by Yellowstone National Park Historian, Lee H. Whittlesey, does have the footnotes and bibliography. It also reads like a Stephen King novel, drawing the reader to the next page. Whittlesey even used a King technique of quoting song lyrics or some other source to introduce his chapters. Even many of the footnotes and bibliography entries are annotated with additional, interesting information. The book's subtitle, "Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park", sets the tone. Nearly every chronicled death in the book really is due to carelessness on the part of the deceased; or on the part of someone else. The historian's perspective gives Whittlesey the opportunity to dig into the archives of Yellowstone as well as newspaper accounts in cities in the area taking him (and the readers) back to the 1800's and the park's earliest deaths. For recent events he often spoke with "primary sources", witnesses and family members. Each of the 25 chapters takes the reader to a different and bizarre way that death has occurred in Yellowstone National Park. The chapter titles, themselves, often give a light hearted and much needed break from the serious nature of the overall work. Chapter titles include: "I Think I Shall Never See --Yellowstone's Deaths from Falling Trees"; "Malice in Wonderland --Yellowstone Murders"; and "The Gloom of Earthquakes --Shaky Breaky Park". The opening chapter deals with deaths by falling (or jumping) into hot springs and geysers. The first incident in the book sets the tone and the overall theme....."Don't do stupid things in Yellowstone". It is the 1981 account of David Allen Kirwan, who dove head first into the 202 degree water of Celestine Pool of the Lower Geyser Basin to save a friend's dog that had also jumped into the boiling water <---YOU DID read that correctly --a witness described Kirwan's dive as a flying, swimming pool type dive. Among his final words after his friends were able to pull him from the water....."That was a stupid thing I did". In most instances, it was s "stupid thing" that caused a death in Yellowstone. Usually, it was because a visitor did not heed a warning, or made a conscious decision to ignore the warning. In "Death in Yellowstone", Whittlesey repeats those warnings...over and over again. He also explains in fairly graphic terms the consequences of ignoring them. "Death in Yellowstone" may save lives. There are few history books, so entertaining and so engrossing that can claim that. The Wyoming Companion
Rating:
Summary: A must read for any visitor to the first national park!
Review: Death in Yellowstone is an amazing book that documents most of the deaths that have occured in the park since its beginning. The book is divided into two parts: death by nature and death by man. As an employee of the Old Faithful Inn this past summer, I recommend this book for anyone who has visited the park or is going to do so in the future. The stories are both educating and frightening at the same time but offer valuable lessons about traveling in the park. It is amazing to me how some people could even think of walking around the thermal pools at night, go camping alone, try to tame bears or get too close to the canyon's edge!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and exciting
Review: Great book. It has been passed around to many people. I'll make a trip there to find all the cool spots of bear attacks, cooked humans, plane wrecks and other weird deaths. Book is humerous and points out people are far more stupid than you thought. Most of the deaths were from stupidity. You never put your kids on the back of of a wild 2000 lb buffalo.
Rating:
Summary: A Gotta Have for a Yellowstone Visit
Review: Having visited the park i can see how foolhardy accidents happen but don't understand why they happen since all kind of warnings are given out by rangers when entering the park and sign posted with same messages. This book goes into as much detail as could be found about various deaths in the park, geyeser, drowning, bear, bison, hiking, murder, plane accidents etc.. Its strange to be looking at a particular geyeser or steaming pool to know someone died there and how and when it happened. To see a bison walking closely by and giving proper respect for the animal only to see a father trying to put their child on the bison for a picture (saw this myself). This book will give you a different perspective about the park and help to identifiy potential dangers for foolhardy behavior.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for anyone visiting Yellowstone
Review: Having visited the park several times, I can attest that even the seemingly most bizarre examples of death an injury found in this book happen all the time. People act as though Yellowstone is a theme park when in fact it is the wilderness - beautiful, amazing, but certainly dangerous. The park rangers at the entrances hand out literature warning visitors of the dangers, but many do not even read the materials, much less heed the advice. The last time I visited, I saw the following: 1) A man climbed out onto a slippery rock at the base of an enormous waterfall, with an infant strapped to his back. His other child was scrambling over dangerous rocks to join them. 2) A bear cub was rolling in the grass of a meadow, and a man got within 5 feet of the cub, trying to "play" with the cub. As if Mama Bear was not far behind! 3) A woman stepped off the wooden pathway at the Old Faithful Geyser basin, standing on the thin, crusty earth in order to hold her hand over a steaming hot pool. 4) A car abruptly swerved around a pack of bison that were walking down the road, and a large 18-wheel truck proceeded to blow his airhorn at the bison, distressing them and driving them off the road. They were travelling with calves and heading in my direction - I just prayed that they would not get upset enough to ram into my car as they attempted to get out of the road! And on and on...fortunately, I've never seen injuries or death while visiting the park, but you look at the behavior of some visitors to the park and know that they are just accidents waiting to happen. This book is engrossing because it's full of real-life accounts of what can (and does) happen when people fail to heed common sense. Do people really need to be told not to feed bears? Not to step into boiling pools of water? Not to run along dangerous paths? Sadly, the answer to these questions is yes.
Rating:
Summary: Watch your step.
Review: I picked up a copy of Whittlesey's book while on vacation in Yellowstone in July of 2000. The cover captured my attention because the day before two of my kids narrowly escaped becoming statistics. We had just entered the park through the northwest gate when, as we were driving along, we spotted our first plumes of steam. Anxious to begin exploring we eased the camper onto the side rode and drove to a parking spot, pulling off the road near a dirt trail that led to the hot spring. As usual, my kids were out of the car in a flash and dashing down the trail where they immediately set up a game of tag, darting around the edge of the boiling water. Also, as usual, I got out of the car and hollered after them to "get back here and settle down." This time, though, I was a bit more concerned because as I drew near the hot spring I could see it bubbling and steam was rising off the surface. Again, I yelled after the kids to settle down, but they just ignored me and continued their game of tag. Knowing the water was probably hot I decided to test it. With calculation I quickly dipped the index finger of my right hand into the pool up to the first knuckle, withdrawing it as fast as I could. What I felt sent terror up my spine - it was the cutting pain and persistent dull ache of scalding, boiling water. My perspective changed in an instant. I no longer saw the water as a clear, sparkling, blue-green emerald, but as a death trap more dangerous than a gaping hole thousands of feet deep. Just then Jacob and Christopher flew around the corner, and darted between the pool and me. Jacob tottered but regained his balance and, with a holler of delight, and scampered quickly to escape Christopher who was in hot pursuit. Using the most authoritarian and urgent language in my vocabulary, I shouted at the kids to get away NOW! Jacob and Christopher stopped. They recognized that tone of voice and the twitch that develops in my left eye when I mean business. They moved away from the hot spring, and for the next 15 minutes endured a parental lecture on what it would mean to be dunked in boiling water. I described third degree burns over their entire bodies, flesh that comes off the bones like a boiled chicken, a scalded esophagus, blindness and certain death after languishing for hours in the hospital's burn center as parents and siblings wept in the waiting room. Being kids, they looked at me askew, doubting my warnings and admonitions while calculating the price of defiance. They obeyed, if not with reluctance, and stayed by my side as we visited the rest of (a small sampling of) the park's geothermal features. Wanting backup, however, I was immediately convinced when I read the first few pages of the first chapter in Whittlesey's book. I bought it on the spot, and read it in less than a week. The kids read it too, and finished it with a new appreciation for minding their father's warning in the wilderness. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 talks about how people have died in the park from nature. This includes things like falling into hot springs, getting killed by wild animals (bison and bears, mostly), poisonous plants, noxious fumes from geothermal vents, lightning, falling trees, fires, etc. Part 2 describes how people have died from human-related causes such as accidents, fights, murder, getting kicked by horses, and even suicide. Prior to reading Whittlesey's book I'd established a mental picture of Yellowstone as a place that's dangerous because of bears. Bears are dangerous, of course, and must be respected, but there are lots of things in the park that are far more likely to get you killed than bears. Some of the most likely ways to die are from drowning, falling, or boiling to death. It's true that some of the book's material can be tedious - especially when it consists of lists of fatalities and related statistics. However, much of it consists of some pretty interesting stories in which Whittlesey does a respectable job of bringing together a human-interest narrative that treats the tragic end of the story - which almost always ends in human death - with a remarkable mixture of interest, dignity, and respect. I found him compassionate in the telling of particularly tragic accounts of death, and rather blunt about those that might have been a candidate for the Charles Darwin award. In spite of the subject matter, this is not a book filled with sensationalism. Neither is it a book that glosses over the gruesome facts of death. Rather, it is a book that accurately portrays the dangers within the park and the unforgiving consequences of ignoring those dangers. Sprinkled throughout the text are reminders that wilderness is dangerous, but to make it benign would be to destroy one of its essential characteristics. Yellowstone cannot, and should not, be made perfectly safe. Rather, those who visit it must respect it for what it is. Overall, this is a nice book, and it was just the ticket for a relaxing evening in the camper at the day's end. The kids loved it - they were so engrossed - and I frequently found myself in a war of wits trying to keep it hid and available for my reading pleasure. The pages are dog-eared, covered with dirt, and folded back. The spine is broken. It's one well-read book and appreciated by many people. I'm sure you will find the same enjoyment. If you are going to Yellowstone, you really must pick up this book and read it first. It literally could save your life - and it's not bad reading to boot.
Rating:
Summary: Sad humor
Review: I purchased this book in 1999 while visiting the park with my family. Whittlesey presents a candid look at the varying degrees of human stupidity and the tragic consequences. In one way, this book portrays a sad picture of the human race, with tales of people trying to ride on top of bison or swim in scalding hot springs. In a warped, twisted way, I found some of the tales amusing. Several of the stories would be great submissions to the Darwin Awards. If you're the type of person who enjoys reading such material then this book would be great for you.
| 
