Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Larry is the real Deal! December 4, 2007
GREAT (and best of all, TRUE) stories of the Bear, get it, you'll not put it down till everyone in the story is safe!
 One of the worst books on bears ever written October 17, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I live in Alaska and spent the summer camping with brown bears in Katmai National Park. I can say from experience that everything in this book is myth, grotesque fantasy, made up nonsense and lore. These types of book feed the false stereotype that bears are man eaters, which they are not. For example, hundreds of tourists a day walk with bears in Katmai National Park. The only fatal bear attack in Katmai, since it was opened in the 1920's, was Timothy Treadwell - and he was mentally ill. When bears are treated without violence, they are peaceful. This book is nothing more than propaganda by the hunting establishment. If people knew that children and the elderly walk safely with bears every summer, it would seem really pathetic to go out and shoot them. Read Grizzly Heart by Charlie Russell if you want to read a book about real bears.
The author is standing in front of my class right now April 15, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The author of this book, Larry Kanuit, is standing in front of my high school English class right now telling the students how he researches his books and how he writes. About myself: I was a journalist for 15 years before becoming a teacher; much of that career was spent in Alaska. I now teach in Bush Alaska. Most of my students are Native Alaskans. Reviewers who have stated that the author is inventing his stories are wrong. Period. Bear-lovers who say that the author is demonizing bears sound as if they have no real-life, consistent, up-close experience with bears. True, most bears leave you alone. Also true, bears are unpredictable and they will attack, maul, and kill you, without provication or apparent reason. Kanuit is explaining right now to the students how he interviews the victims (or survivors), uses police and fish and game documents, and essentially "writes a research paper." His research is good. I happen to know some of the same people in his stories, and their stories match the stories in the book. It's a good read. You won't want to walk into the Alaskan Bush without a good firearm, though.
 Fast, Entertaining Read - Not a Guide to Visiting Bear Country July 6, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Larry Kaniut has made a career of writing white-knuckled real life thrillers. This book is no different. It's kind of like a car accident, once you start reading you can't turn your eyes away. It's easy to get into the book but hard to put down. What better material than bear attacks to capture your imagination.
There are lessons to learn from this book, but for the most part it is a collection of sensational bear stories presented for their entertainment value. If you are looking for a scientific look at bear attacks, this might not be the book for you - Try Stephen Herrero's Bear Attacks, Their Causes and Avoidence.
If you want a book that throws one gripping bear attack after another, get this one. And if you didn't get enough from this book, try More Bear Tales by Larry Kaniut.
One more bit of advice, read this one in your bedroom, not in a tent in the middle of Denali National Park.
boring, silly, harmful to bears December 23, 2004
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
Kaniut repeats the same story 200-300 times. A man or woman bumps into a bear. The bear tears the man or woman to pieces. You get all the gross details about their injuries. They speculate about what went wrong. To me, this is like reading a book about 300 car accidents. There's an accident. You get to read clinical descriptions about the injuries people suffer. The survivors speculate about what went wrong. Just as people in auto accidents tend to blame the other driver, the people in Kaniut's bear tales tend to blame the bear for the accident. As a rule, the people injured by bears in Alaska Bear Tales don't know the first thing about bears, so you, the reader, get bombarded with inaccurate, biased information about bears. All the negative comments about bears add up; this book portrays bears as monsters or demons.
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