Watch the Bear

Derek Stonorov has spent the better part of fifty years watching brown bears as a research scientist and guide in some of Alaska’s most beautiful wild places. As a dyslexic kid who was more interested in hunting and cars than academics, he managed to collect objective data as well as make observations and insights about what he learned to call “the community of bears.” Watch the Bear takes the reader from the 1960s—when salmon were plentiful, Stonorov’s hair was long, and he could spend an entire summer watching hundreds of bears without seeing another human—to today, when bear guiding companies are ubiquitous and solitude in bear country is a whole lot harder to find.

Mixing memoir, anecdotes, and science, Stonorov provides an inquiry into brown bear communication and social behavior as well as advice on living in harmony with bears. Through good science made accessible with stories, Stonorov offers readers an engaging and breath-taking journey into the world of a legendary but often misunderstood species.