Good book, and I learned quite a few new things about polar bears. My on;y fault with it was that certain parts of the book seemed poorly organized and constituted a miscellany of factoids. The book also contained a lot more historical material than I expected for a book that, based on the cover, was focused on the plight of the polar bear. Still, a good read and recommended to anyone who wants to understand polar bears better. ( )

3.5 stars

This book is all about polar bears, from the time Europeans first came across them up to their current potential peril due to global warming/climate change.

The history is unfortunate, as humans mostly tended, for a long time, to simply shoot them on site, assuming they were a threat (yes, they can be dangerous, but apparently, they are also very curious, and much of their approaching humans seems more to have been from curiosity than aggression). There was information on their behaviour, which I found particularly interesting. There were chapters on zoos and circuses, and on hunting. The last chapters focused on global warming and how it will affect polar bears and other wildlife in the Arctic; I’ve read enough about this that I’m not surprised by any of it, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating (and sad). There were also plenty of photos, both mixed in with the text and in a separate colour section. ( )