On Being a Bear

Face to Face with Our Wild Sibling

By: Rémy Marion

Narrated by: Sean Sonier

For listeners of Jane Goodall and Lawrence Anthony, this up-close, captivating look at bears traces our complex relationship to the animal throughout history.

On Being a Bear draws on history, legends, scientific studies, and the author’s 30 years of observing bears around the world to offer a richly detailed biography of these iconic animals, including the many ways bears have figured in our lives and imaginations.

As author Rémy Marion tells us, some cultures view bears as our wild cousins - as humans cloaked in fur - while others cast bears as cuddly characters in cartoons or seek to eradicate their grizzled forms from civilization. Scientists have made new discoveries into bears’ varied diets, their powerful sense of smell, and a mother bear’s stubborn patience with her cubs. Bears play a vital role in our ecosystems, and new studies into bear hibernation could lead to medical breakthroughs for humans. Offering these and more astonishing insights, On Being a Bear brings listeners face-to-face with these long admired, feared, and misunderstood animals, and sets the record straight through a combination of thrilling science and expert storytelling.

©2021 Rémy Marion (P)2021 Greystone Books

Critic reviews

“[T]here’s plenty of entertaining biology and anthropology alike in these pages. Those with a fondness for our shaggy fellow mammals will enjoy Marion’s wanderings in the world of bears.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Marion's obvious love for bears shines throughout this very readable primer on our ursine cousins.” (Booklist)

“[On Being a Bear] delivers a precise and passionate account of the current state of bears wherever they live. It deserves a prominent place on the shelf of every serious lover of the ursus species.” (Bernd Brunner, author of Bears: A Brief History, Birdmania: A Remarkable Passion for Birds, and Winterlust: Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season)