Böcker av Gloria Dickie

Bears have long held a central place in our collective memory, from Greek mythology and Indigenous folklore to medieval fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, only eight bear species remain, some icons of the natural world (such as the panda bear and the polar bear), others obscure (such as the spectacled bear and the sloth bear). From the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic, the jungles of India to the woods of the Rocky Mountains, journalist Gloria Dickie explores each bear's story, meeting figures on the front lines of conservation efforts and explaining the unparalleled challenges bears face. Weaving together ecology, history, and mythology, Eight Bears reveals our volatile relationship with these magnificent mammals-and warns us what we risk losing if we don't learn to live alongside them.

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 readers 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 centre 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.Weaving together ecology, history, mythology and a captivating account of her travels and observations, Dickie offers a closer look at our volatile relationship with these magnificent mammals. Engrossing and deeply reported, Eight Bears delivers a clear warning for what we risk losing if we don't learn to live alongside the animals that have shaped our cultures, geographies and stories.