212 of 237 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
"God Protects Drunks and Fools", August 27, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska (Hardcover)
On the surface, Timothy Treadwell's book "Among Grizzlies" is a book about one of my favorite subjects: bears. This is why I read the book from start to finish. But it isn't long after one begins the book before one realizes that just beneath the surface this is actually a book about a man with a death wish and all the talk about bears (which can make for an adequate "bear read", mind you) is really a series of descriptions of this sad individual's numerous attempts to force a horrible death upon himself.
Treadwell begins his book by describing his being shot at by drug dealers and his having taken an overdose of illegal narcotics that only CPR and an Emergency Room could bring him back from. From the beginning to the end of the book he talks about his addiction to and abuse of alcohol. When he reaches the point of the book at which he sets out to live among Alaska's wild Grizzly Bears and describes the many times that he was charged by irate Grizzlies for having come within ridiculously close proximity to these bears in his attempts to kiss them on the nose, etc, it is clear that his interest in bears is simply a continuation of a long progression of suicide attempts disguised as "experimentation". At the end of the book he tells us that of all the bears he came to know during his stays in the Alaskan wilderness, the one he "loved the most" was the one bear that had tried most seriously to kill him.
This book is by no means scientific. In fact, I have never read a book written by a person who had spent so much time in the wilderness only to come away from it with so little understanding of it. At times Treadwell admits to being a very incapable wilderness explorer and he tells his readers of such instances as the first time night fell upon him while he was alone in the wilderness. In that instance his problem was that once it had become dark he realized that he had never so much as unrolled the tent he had brought to live in and so he would be totally unable to set it up in the darkness.
But in another bizarre description of his being totally surrounded by nature's bounty, watching huge Grizzly Bears procuring so many clams that they were fattening for winter as he watched, Treadwell worries that he will starve to death because he had eaten his last Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich and finished off his last can of Tuna Fish and the plane that was scheduled to bring him more food had not arrived on the anticipated day! Unfortunately, he wasn't kidding.
This would be a harmless, albeit a bit ridiculous, book were it not for the fact that Treadwell adopts a superior, "Holier Than Thou" attitude toward hunters and other wilderness explorers. He talks about legal hunters and poachers as if they were one and the same and he blames licenced sportsmen for the decline of America's Grizzly population. This is untrue. He also blames sight seers in the Alaskan wilderness for driving bears to inadequate habitats and refers to these tourists as "these people", completely ignoring the fact that he is not only one of "these people" but also by far the most intrusive among them.
Bears are good. People are bad. Treadwell is good because Treadwell is a bear. This is Treadwell's strange, immature philosophy.
In his epilogue Treadwell reminds his readers that he never intended his book to have the effect upon others that Hemingway's description of the running of the bulls had.
I wouldn't worry about that, Tim.
I guess it's fairly obvious that as much as I enjoy reading about bears, I had an adverse reaction to the thought of Timothy Treadwell roaming among them and fancying himself one of them. There is a great deal of bear discussion in this book and many of his descriptions of bear behavior and the reaction of bears to Treadwell's behavior are not devoid of value for bear enthusiasts. For that, one might want to read this book. I might even recommend it.
My hope is that when Treadwell finally accomplishes his real goal, the bears he lives among will not acquire a taste for human flesh as a result of his having forced the meal upon them.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Read, Horrible Example to Follow, August 29, 2005
Like many people I read this book shortly after Timothy's fatal mauling. I was expecting an academic book about bears that laid out the research findings of Timothy Treadwell. What I got was something of a cross between the horse-whisperer and that crazy woman who used to live down the street who had tea parties with her 50 stupidly named cats.
I have to admit I found the book intriguing although I was constantly feeling uneasy about what he was saying and doing. I think spreading information and love for animals, especially animals that could be at risk, is good. In the end we truly will only save what we value. But, by the end of this book I was deeply concerned about what kind of an example Timothy is giving the world. Bears, especially the coastal Browns in Katmai, are not blood thirsty killers, but the nature of bears is unpredictable, and much like people, different from individual to individual. Timothy does make this clear in his different encounters with bears.
What Timothy does not point out or even seem to consider is that historically any time bears become habituated to people, bears suffer. Timothy's close approach to bears did nothing to help the bears or bear research. At best it only boosted his celebrity. In the book, he mentions several of these irresponsible encounters, in one example he leans over to kiss a yearling bear on the nose.
I recommend reading the book, even if at times it seems like watching a train wreck. If possible, read it with Grizzly Maze by Nick Jans or Death in the Grizzly Maze by Mike Lapinski. After you realize that he embellished nearly all parts of his life; claiming to be Australian, claiming to be an orphan .... You will get the grain of salt you should take with this book.
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29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Passion and Lunacy do not= Intelligence, January 4, 2006
While my heart goes out to all those that knew him and loved him,I am deeply saddened by this story of a man who was so disturbed that his fantasy became his undoing. I appreciate his interest and passion in ecology and the environment but I am saddened by his lack of animal knowledge and his aparent mental instability. In many way he caused these bears further harm by allowing them to become so accustomed to human presence. Other humans do not have such placid motives in tracking bears.
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