Product Description

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Peter Jenkins’s Looking for Alaska, a riveting adventure story of one man’s passion to understand and protect the grizzly bear—and his last foolhardy, violent encounter with one

Ursus arctos horribilis, commonly known as the grizzly or brown bear, is one of the most feared animals on the planet. As its most outspoken protector, Timothy Treadwell tirelessly sought to overturn the perception of grizzlies as dangerously aggressive. It was therefore a media sensation when in October 2003 Treadwell and his girlfriend were fatally mauled by a bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, the first such attack in the park in eighty-five years. The horrifying audiotape of Treadwell’s final, frantic screams begged the question: How could this happen?

In The Grizzly Maze, Nick Jans, who for years has written expertly and lyrically about the Alaskan wilderness, ventures to answer this question. Based on exclusive access to the killing site and his own and other’s expert knowledge of Alaskan bears, Jans plots out Treadwell’s final expedition and encounter with the grizzly. In doing so, Jans provides a moving and complex portrait of the man known as the “Bear Whisperer,” whose controversial ideas earned him the scorn of hunters, the adoration of some animal lovers, and the skepticism of naturalists. The Grizzly Maze also offers a definitive, close-up look at bears, bear behavior, and our complicated relationship with them. It promises to be the blockbuster adventure read of the season.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145964 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Jans (Tracks of the Unseen, etc.) presents a fast-paced, thoughtful and evenhanded account of the life and death of self-appointed bear guardian Timothy Treadwell, who, along with a girlfriend, was killed and eaten by grizzlies in Alaska's Katmai National Park in 2003. Treadwell had for 13 summers befriended the bears, camping in territory that includes a labyrinth of trails known as the "grizzly maze." No one knows why the grizzlies, normally tolerant of humans, turned on him. Two bears had to be shot, and many people felt vindicated by his death, because bear biologists and Park Service officials had for years criticized his activities, believing that contact with humans is not in the bears' best interest. Jans is ambivalent about Treadwell (whom he never met), sympathizing with his desire to communicate with the animals, yet admitting that the man was self-serving, courting the media and writing a mawkish book about his experiences. Jans doesn't stint on the details of Treadwell's troubled past, his gory death and the media frenzy that followed, but he tackles a broader issue as well: our evolving relationship with nature and the folly of this kind of attempt at interspecies interaction.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–A self-appointed guardian of grizzlies, Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were attacked and eaten in 2003 by the very animals that were his passion. Jans presents a fair and exacting account of the events that led up to the tragedy, and, in doing so, shows readers the different sides of a complex and controversial man. Woven throughout the account are interviews with Treadwell's proponents, who believed that his motive in camping out in a labyrinth of trails in Alaska's Katmai National Park, known as the grizzly maze, was to protect the bears he observed from poachers. Readers also hear from the bear biologists and park service officials who for years criticized his behavior as dangerous and unscientific. It would be easy enough to dismiss Treadwell as a well-meaning but foolish person whose luck simply ran out. Jans gives his audience much to consider and allows them to decide. As to what type of man Treadwell actually was, the author says he arrives at his answer depending on the day or moment. The bigger issues of humans' relationship with nature and the dangers of interacting too closely with wildlife are also discussed.–Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Timothy Treadwell was a truly self-made man; born in New York as Timothy Dexter, he reinvented himself as a Californian with a new name and several different personae, then reinvented himself again when he met his first grizzly in Alaska. As recounted in his book Among Grizzlies (1997), he became a passionate defender and interpreter of the great bears, camping among them in the summers and learning their ways. It was during his thirteenth summer, accompanied by his girlfriend, that it all went horribly wrong--several minutes of sound preserved on a video recorder reveal Treadwell screaming, the attempted rescue by his girlfriend, then the sounds of dragging. When a pilot arrived the next day to pick them up, he discovered a bear feeding on human remains. The story leading up to this final encounter, and the forensic work that went into reconstructing the attack, are rivetingly told by Jans. Nonfiction that reads like fiction. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

The best of the information available
Since the day Tim Treadwell died I have kept a file on all the media information to appear about him. Why? Because I never met him, but talked to him on the phone several times about bears. He was the first person in my life who ever had the nerve to say "hey bears might not be the monsters people have been lead to believe they are". Having said that, I realized from reading his book that he was partly wacko, no question. I also realized long before he died that he was the kind of person who people either liked in a tolerant, funny sort of way or they really, really hated him. A person who can generate that kind of hate is a lesson to all of us. Nick Jans says he never met Tim Treadwell but he writes this story with common sense and neutrality and a good deal of careful craft. The story of Tim Treadwell's death itself has never settled on me as the whole truth. First, I believe that there are things about bears researchers haven't learned yet as the stories of late fall lodge caretakers in Alaska suggest that late fall bears haven't been studied to the extent of summer bears. Second, when I read this book, all it gave me were more questions which will never be answered. As a tracker, a seeker of facts, I was astounded that the discovery of the tragedy wasn't treated as a crime scene. In search and rescue they ALWAYS treat each incident as a crime scene until it is proven otherwise. In this case they just assumed it was obvious what happened, and maybe it was, but procedurally that was wrong. Also, the only evidence of what happened outside of appearances, was the audio tape. That tape was a crucial piece of evidence and if the bears involved had been humans charged with murder, even an inept attorney could have gotten them acquitted based on the handling of that evidence. SO,if you are interested in what happened to Tim Treadwell read this book as it contains the best information available. Nick Jans is to be congratulated on a fine effort in a situation where he was pressed to get a book done. His book is as honest, fair and complete as possible where as several other versions are not.

Riveting
I just finished reading this book and was riveted throughout. Unlike several other reviewers who found the last third of the book superfluous, I found it highly informative and thought it fit in beautifully with the rest of the story. I appreciated Nick Jans' account of his personal journey with bears and the insights he gained into both his own soul and the behavior of grizzlies/brown bears. I think it is exactly what qualifies him to surmise what motivated Timothy Treadwell to choose the lifestyle he chose. Jans remained objective yet weighed the pros and cons of Timothy's behavior with sensitivity and good sense. He leaves it up to the reader to form his or her own opinions. I saw the documentary "Grizzly Man" when it was in theaters - three times. I was fascinated by Tim's story and thought Werner Herzog did a fine job of presenting it. This book and the movie complement each other very well.
Jans writes beautifully; I was pleasantly surprised to find a touch of the poet in his prose.

Interesting!
I learned alot about bears.I appreciate his love for the bears,but do not think he went about it correctly.