The Story of Brutus: My Life with Brutus the Bear and the Grizzlies of North America

There's no denying Anderson's enthusiasm for—and empathy with—the Montana grizzly bears to which he has dedicated his life. An animal rescue and rehabilitation expert and host of National Geographic's Expedition series, the author connected with the natural world as a young boy on wilderness treks with his mountain man father, honing tracking skills and developing an intuitive sense of how to react in encounters with the likes of snakes, bears, mountain lions, and wolves. In his 20s he adopted a grizzly bear cub he named Brutus, who provides no shortage of sweet and scary anecdotes. The author refutes "bearanoia"—man's unfounded fear, fueled by ignorance and hysteria, of a generally "solitary, shy creature" that would rather not attack humans. The book's plea for coexistence with the wilderness is both emotionally heartfelt and factually fascinating, but clumsy prose hobbles the fervent message. (Sept.)