Customer Reviews

The Bear Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Those Who Are Husky, Hairy and Homosexual, and Those Who Love 'Em

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

17 thing you can do after you have read The Bear Handbook.

1. Swear up and down that I have no right writing a book like this and then flame me on the BML, where it will become the source of a heated debate 2. Experiment with the different beard styles on pages 46-47. Don't worry, it will grow back. 3. Re-read it and commit sections of the book to memory, so you can recite them at the bar. (You did it with South Park, you can do it with this!) 4. Reveal the thrilling ending to your friends and spoil it for them, because they spoiled The Crying Game, Murder on the Orient Express and Presumed Innocent for you! 5. Support your local religious fanatic, who by the way, is opposed to your right to love whomever you wish, and donate it to his book burning. 6. There has been talk of a study group forming for men who want to improve their Bear Quiz scores. 7. Break the copyright laws and Xerox page 74 and paste it on your keyboard. 8. Have you thought about optioning the film rights? They are up for grabs and I'm sick of waiting to hear from Jeffery Katzenberg. 9. Create a vignette and display the book so it looks like all your teddy bears are trying to read it. (You've got the decorator gene and know it's what Christopher Lowell would do!) 10. Visit www.bearhandbook.com and order another one for your beefy uncle who has been asking too many questions. Order two, so you can prepare your aunt. 11. Email your comments about the book to me, thebear@bearhandbook.com ... my publisher wants more quotes! 12. Isn't the local Bear Christmas party and gift exchange coming up soon? 13. Buy yourself a shot and celebrate that you found a typo! 14. Have your final quiz score printed on your trick card 15. Did you really read the acknowledgments? Do you know any of those people? Have you slept with any of them? 16. Bring out the book at your next dinner party. There is tons of after dinner fodder to discuss and debate. 17. Tell a friend about the damn thing! I have a husbear with a nasty porn habit to support, you know!

That's OK, because this book will make you feel good (if not great) about yourself. Written with a wonderful "matter-of-fact" type of humor, this tour of beardom is as informative as it is funny.

Mr. Kampf reveals the secrets to deciphering the bear code, how to interpret an online profile, and how to avoid those who look like bears, but aren't. He also reveals the true spirit of bears as intelligent, loving and gentle creatures who have a propensity for technology and comic books. (If only I had this book 20 years ago. I would have known what my attraction to the X-Men's Wolverine really meant!)

Are you a bear? Do you like bears? Do you have a bear in your life? This is the book for you.

Stereotypes are rampant in any society. Usually when we think of people being harmed by a stereotype we think of other, more powerful groups, picking on minorities. What do you do though if the minority you are part of (gay men) ignores you because you don't fit the stereotype (not athletic, young, expensively dressed with expensive tastes in clothes, etc)? Well you can establish communities and band together for your betterment as many bears have done. However, there is also a point in which a group must laugh at itself, and Kampf's "The Bear Handbook" is one of the signs of that time. I've talked to Bears I know and they remember the big uproar when this book came out -- seems that some folks did not understand that it was first and foremost a satire. As satire Kampf's book does its job very well -- it makes you laugh while pointing out how bear community may be repeating some of the stereotyping and social confinement it rose against.

I couldn't wait for this book to get here and for good reason. I laughed chapter after chapter. Being a bear myself I could really relate.

I mentioned this book in the Pilot Episode of the Cubs Out Loud Podcast. Years ago I bought this book as I started learning about the Bear Community. I have to say that the Bear Handbook was a great representation of what Bears are all about. As Ray Kampf explains in his introduction, this book was not to be taken seriously. However there is truth in those lies. I had loaned my Bear Handbook to a friend of mine several years back and didn't get it back before he moved from the Twin Cities. I just recently bought the book again and am reading it. Knowing what I know about the Bear Community now, the book is out of date. When the author primary refers all his bear brethren to the BML, Resources for Bears, and talks about Bear Magazine and American Bear as the Bear Magazines, you know there needs to be a volume 2. Technology has grown to encompass more options for the bear community. This includes the many podcasts like mine, the "New" bear sites, bear runs, club mailing list, text messaging, chat clients. I may sound like I'm bashing The Bear Handbook, but I cannot give it anything lower than a 5. For the year 2000 for which this book was published, it was a wonderful representation of the time. Now if only Ray would write an updated version. If you're a bear, cubs, otter, chaser, et al, you should get this book and have it in your archive. [...]

Hey, hey, hey, Boo Boo! What is a bear? If you're husky, hairy, and homosexual or pine for someone who is, you've got to pick up "The Bear Handbook." Quick: what straight actor looks better to you: Sean Connery with a beard or Ben Affleck without? If you said Connery, you've got bear-hunting potential. "The Bear Handbook" serves a real need today, and if you think not, take a look at those sophisticated men's fashion magazines with their smooth-chested boys-boys-boys. If you consider chest-waxing a barbarity on a par with foot-binding, assert your beardom and embrace your genetic destiny with the assurance of "The Bear Handbook." Whether bruin, bruinlike or bruin hunter, your odds of bagging the perfect catch are much enhanced with the wit, information and life-enhancing, common-sense wisdom of "The Bear Handbook."

Well. I like playing with Bears but I didn't like this book. It didn't really say anything. Just that Bears are guys that are usually bearded, hairy, overweight and they like porn sites on the internet. They're intelligent and friendly people. There you go. You no longer have to buy this book. Get out there and meet some of these guys if you're interested.