3. "The Grizzly Maze" by Nick Jans

So I'm already lagging behind on my book-a-day goal. But I did say I'd read two books some days, no books other days. Right now I'm packing for a move that's been pushed up, over the course of the last few weeks, from February to Thanksgiving. And when I'm not packing, so many things are going through my mind that concentrating on anything more complex than a 20-minute sitcom is difficult.

But I've managed to get through Nick Jans' very readable The Grizzly Maze. The book takes as its starting point the controversial life and death of Timothy Treadwell, a Malibu cocktail waiter (although that's an oversimplification, of course) who conceived a passionate love for brown/grizzly bears. He spent 13 summers living in their midst in Alaska's Katmai National Park, naming the bears, advocating for them (sometimes against foes in whose existence no one but him believed), breaking every bear-safety rule, inserting himself into their midst, trying to become a bear. And finally--as he himself seemed to almost hope--he was killed and mostly eaten by bears. Unfortunately, so was Amie Huguenard, his girlfriend/ female companion/ woman who loved him but seemed to have an ambiguous position in his life. Also unfortunately, the rescue team killed not only the bear eating their remains but a second bear who was overly curious or aggressive, and whom a bear guide later said was "a friendly little guy" and "just curious."

So this is the paradox of Treadwell's life and death: He loved bears, but helping them become habituated to humans probably did them no favors. In addition, his death at their claws and teeth resulted directly in the deaths of two bears.

Jans, a longtime Alaska resident, brings in his own experience--from visiting Treadwell's campsite days after the killings, to accounts of hunting and later photographing bears, to tales of the bears he and his neighbors encounter in suburban Juneau. He traces a short history of human-bear interactions, bear science and conservation efforts throughout the world, and recent grizzly attacks and fatalities.

The book is savage in places. I didn't like Jans very well after one of his hunt stories--although, to be fair, he admits that he loathes himself for his behavior in that saga, too. I'm ambivalent about Treadwell, who sounds like an amiable, well-meaning, sometimes clueless flake, who forged a deep connection with bears but whose legacy still seems ambiguous.

Inured by crime dramas, true-crime books and photos, and/or misanthropy, I wasn't especially disturbed by the deaths of Treadwell and Huguenard; but I felt nauseated by one account of a human killing a grizzly, and I had to skim over several other passages. This perhaps doesn't speak well of me.

Treadwell reminded me in some ways of Chris McCandless, the subject of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, and Jans himself mentions this comparison. Both McCandless and Treadwell were outsiders who came to Alaska seeking personal fulfillment or redemption, and both perished in part because of their own actions (and/or ignorance, hubris, disrespect for conditions--fill in the blank). And, says Jans, both were fairly reviled after their deaths, particularly for the attention they drew. Jans himself gives what seems to be a balanced portrayal of Treadwell, interviewing people who knew him well, his close friends, bear guides, park rangers, scientists, and others with an array of conflicting opinions of the man and his methods.

However, more than just being the story of a man who yearned for a life outside human civilization--and did what he could to realize his dream--I think The Grizzly Maze is a valuable jumping-off point for further reading and research about human-bear interactions. In fact, when I finish this blog entry, I'm going to hop onto my Amazon wish list, Jans' bibliography in hand, and make some additions.

One of the brown/grizzly bears in Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. Photo copyright Monique Bos, 2010.