Eight Bears

Mythic Past and Imperiled Future

By: Gloria Dickie

Narrated by: Cassidy Brown

A global exploration of the eight remaining species of bears—and the dangers they face.

Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenth-century fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction. Some, such as the panda bear and the polar bear, are icons of the natural world; others, such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear, are far less known.

In Eight Bears, journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a globe-trotting journey to explore each bear's story, whisking listeners from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the backwoods of the Rocky Mountain West. She meets with key figures on the frontlines of modern conservation efforts—the head of a rescue center for sun and moon bears freed from bile farms, a biologist known as Papa Panda, who has led China's panda-breeding efforts for almost four decades, a conservationist retraining a military radar system to detect and track polar bears near towns—to reveal the unparalleled challenges bears face as they contend with a rapidly changing climate and encroaching human populations.

©2023 Gloria Dickie (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Really enjoyed!!!

I learned so much listening to this. Such an informative book. Well written and loved the narrator.

The truth of what we humans are doing and not doing.

I greatly enjoyed the story and insight on the eight bear species we have left on this earth. It was highly informative with facts that made you feel broken and those that made you feel hopeful. I was able to reflect on my relationship with bears and I didn’t realize I had so many fond memories with bears. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the earth and the animals that live with us.

An intriguing tale about the past, present and, future existence of bears

Eight Bears was a rather captivating story that highlighted the existing state of the worlds bear population by utilizing a combination of hard data and first hand accounts. I found the level of investigative journalism done by Dickie to make for an enjoyable and refreshing read. I also enjoyed how many of the lesser known bear species received just as much attention as the more popular bears.
The only thing that keeps me from giving this book 5 stars is that the author demonstrated a high level of bias in her reporting. She did share points from other peoples perspective at times but for much of the book she portrayed rather extreme views towards conservation without proposing potential solutions to the issues facing many bear species today. However, this book seemed to be more of an attempt to educate the public about the ongoing issues rather than how to solve them.
Overall I would recomend this book to anyone interested in learning more about bears and there uncertain future.

Fantastic!

I was astonished how little I knew about bears, especially the black bears in my backyard. Gloria did a phenomenal job articulating each bear, and why we as humans, should start caring. As someone who also lives in Boulder, I can attest to the increase in black bear sightings. As an OU alumni, I was happy to hear Gloria sited an Oakland University professor — I had no idea the in-depth research Michigan had on black bears. The most interesting thing I took away from Eight Bears, was that black bears have been proven to be more “intelligent” than gorillas. There really needs to be a documentary about the bears in Yosemite in the 60s-70s, that to me was not common knowledge, and it seemed Gloria just brushed the surface on what happened.

Great book

Great book not woke like someone said. Interesting stories about each bear. Great idea in it in itself to write about types of species. Maybe should be a series of other animals. Learned a lot from this book