Learning to Talk Bear: So Bears Can Listen

It was the title which made me buy this book as I was excited to be about to be let in on the body language of bears. That was ten years ago when I was trying to learn all I could about bears and I was disappointed because there is not much in the way of bear body language in this book that is solid information. However, I just re-read the book after years of studying bears and having the good fortune to actually spend a lot of time around the animal and I must recommend this book as an enlightening and entertaining read. Even though some of the great personal bear stories end with a question and the reader is asked to interpret some of the events, the middle of the book is a fully documented discussion of the research on grizzly bears that took place prior to the publishing of this book. The information in the book particularly speaks to the small population of bears hanging on in the western states. Many of the points made about bears are just as true today as they were ten years ago and the research on bears hasn't progressed much. (At least the published research.) For a reader who wants to know about western bears this is a better bet than the "attack" books. In this book you learn about a bear's motivation, reproduction, intelligence, seasonal movements and what bears eat as well as the differences in individual bears. The experiences the author had with bears as a wilderness guide are fun to read as well as instructive. The books about bear attacks (I have read most of them as well) are mostly focused on the wounds a bear can inflict on delicate humans. There are only a few of those books that address why the bear attacks happen and what a person can do to prevent them. One of the things a person can do is to understand how a bear operates and this book is the best of the books to give you that understanding of the western states bears.

I bought this book, because I desire a through knowledge of bears, their life, their existance. Reading this book has opened my my eyes to more than I ever thought there was to learn. I even bought a map so that I could see the areas he describes. If all books about grizzles and bears are this enjoyable, I have alot of reading to do. I now have a new found respect and admiration for the grizzly.

"Learning to Talk Bear", by Roland Cheek is a must read for anyone interested in the current state of affair of the American Grizzly. Cheek combines his vast outdoor experience as an outfitter in Montana with solid research to provide a thorougly readable and enjoyable book. His main focus in the book is for the reader to walk away with a thorough understanding of grizzly behavior and the complex issues that threaten their existence This is not a book about grizzly attacks, although Cheek does examine several in attempts to understand possible causes of those incidents. It is an exciting book that combines research, suspense and good story-telling to help the reader understand Grizzly behavior. It reminded me of two other books, John McPhee's "Coming into the Country" about Alaska, and Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm." I read "Learning to Talk Bear" while vacationing in Yellowstone and felt much more in tune while in the backyard of "Ursus arctos horribilis"!

Bear fear is a given with most people . . so they do what they can to avoid bears and thereby cheat themselves out of wilderness experiences of the kind that may not be able to be had in the next century. Roland Cheek's book goes a long way in the explanation of the necessary dance people will have to learn to do with animals in order for the animals to survive. His book is entertaining, wise and up to date. It is a book that any person who is going to venture into bear country would be wise to digest. There are good stories and illustrations of bear encounters that turned out fine . . . after all the author is still here.