Four-Fifths a Grizzly

Truly eye-opening, easy to follow and with some of the most gorgeous photographs I’ve seen, this book talks about the interconnectedness between all life on earth (and, maybe, beyond). Animals or plants, we all have so much DNA in common that it’s mind blowing. I enjoyed reading about the author’s experiences working for National Geographic and his encounters with some of my favorite “cousins” (I love bears!) As an animal lover, it’s heartwarming to see the compassion that he shows towards all creatures, and how he discusses conservation, extinction and possible solutions without ever being judgmental or preachy. Some parts were a little too technical for me, but most of the content was clear enough that I ended up grasping it. Whatever I missed, there’s always the gorgeous pictures.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Patagonia!

This book was not what I thought it would be, therefore I may not be the best reviewer. The book has a lot of information and opinions on evolution and the pre-history of mankind with dates, statistics, and suppositions about that period of time. This is not something that interests me. However it has lots of good points and information on our relationships with the animal kingdom. It also extols the virtues of letting your kids play out in the dirt, spending time in nature, moving our bodies, and encourages us to treat animals, from microscopic to gigantic, with the proper respect and care. For these things I am grateful. The author depicts many examples of symbiotic relationships between different types of living creatures and also describes animals playing for the sake of entertainment and relating to others outside their species. It is a more fact heavy and textbook-like account then I thought it would be. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

Interesting book of animals, including us, and interactions and planet destruction. Sustainability is possible, but at times we make it harder than it has to be. I liked reading about his encounters with bears especially, and made me think about our world, which is always a good thing. At times skimmable, but enough there to satisfy a variety of readers. Would recommend.

The title of this book comes from thinking about the fact that humans and grizzly bears share at least roughly 80% of the same DNA, making us in some sense 4/5ths identical to a grizzly bear. Douglas Chadwick, a biologist and photographer, has put together these pictures, stories and information about life on our planet. There are 13 main chapters, discussing different aspects of the natural world and humans place within it.

There are many, many beautiful and exotic pictures throughout the book; from an octopus with transparent skin, to a river full of hippos, to a beautiful blue beetle, to a green single-celled organism seen magnified under a microscope. These pictures really help inspire wonder and appreciation for the beauty of nature.

In the Introduction, Chadwick explains his early fascination with discovering the microscopic world, and how using his microscope got him thinking about different forms of life. In the first chapter, he describes an uneventful encounter with a grizzly bear in the wild. Chadwick's sense of humor really makes this book fun to read, and the tone is more conversational than a textbook. There are interesting comparisons early on in this book, as humans are compared to other species in terms of how similar their DNA is.

Chadwick goes on to discuss human population growth, and the effects this has had on the other species on the planet. He reviews the human microbiome, and the different types of organisms that live inside us. Later chapters describe the benefits of living in more natural settings, the devastation of poaching, and the need to protect ecosystems like our ocean habitats.

The overall message seems to be, that humans should feel more like a part of life on this Earth, instead of feeling separate from the rest of the environment. Chadwick passes along this message with a unique type humor and enthusiasm, and includes some wonderful pictures as well. This was a fun one to read, and I will look for more from this author in the future.

One of the quotes that author Douglas Chadwick provides in a later section of his new book Four-Fifths a Grizzly is from another book, The Twelves Steps to Happiness by Joe Klass: “The truth shall set you free . . . but first it will piss you off.” And this fit me as I read through about 70% of Four-Fifths a Grizzly and decided that me and my temper needed a break. Chadwick and his facts didn’t upset me as much as realizing how completely oblivious human beings are and continue to be even after being faced with a virus that restructured our world and climate change and the decimation of ecosystems all around us. So, anyway, my best intentions of reviewing this book nearer to its publication date failed.

Douglas Chadwick, a wildlife biologist, author, and contributor to National Geographic, is a very personable writer with a dry wit that works well as he discusses the relationship of human beings to nature. He informs the reader that humans are nature and nature is us. We are inextricably linked to everything around us via shared DNA. The number of organisms inside and outside of us just might make your skin crawl. Heh.

The first part of the book brings to light our place on earth, how our being human and doing what humans do has affected the world, how accidental introductions of species can decimate an area–such as the rat stowing away on ships and thriving on islands on which it has no predator and then its annhilating vulnerable species. And, what can be done to try to reverse that destruction. (Yes, thankfully there are biologists out there trying to turn things around.)

Chadwick does present a lot of facts, most of which I found interesting and alarming (“of every ten wild animals that roamed Earth half a century ago, only three stand in their place today”) and sometimes disheartening–and some created a white noise in my head, but that was me and the feeling of being back in Sophomore biology class–but he has an irrepressible optimism that shines through and provides hope.

As a nature writer, Chadwick has had the opportunity to participate in many interesting studies ( like grizzlies and whales!) and provides some anecdotes and observations here to off-set specifics about mitochondria.

When I finished reading this book, I felt like I had just received a call-to-action–not that I hadn’t felt one before, but there’s something about being presented with so much evidence that makes you feel the urgency; as if droughts, melting glaciers, and wildfires hadn’t accomplished that.

“Knowing what we know now, it would be good for a species that names itself sapiens–Latin for “wise”–to start choosing smarter paths forward. If we can quite congratulating ourselves for being exceptional creatures long enough to embrace a more realistic vision of what human nature actually is, that would count as a very promising and much healthier change of trajectory.

I could quite easily continue to discuss this book but instead I’ll just leave you with this: I highly recommend this one for nature lovers as well as anyone who cares about our place in the natural world and what we can do to conserve and protect our world.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book, Four-Fifths a Grizzly, is a reference to how humans share 80% of our DNA with grizzlies. In this book, Douglas Chadwick introduces us to a way of looking at nature and our relationship to it.

Chadwick is also the author of The Wolverine Way and Growing Up Grizzly, both excellent books. He shares his perspective on nature and wildlife in a delightful way. Both the writing and the photos are top-notch. Humans may not be the top of the food chain and we need to understand our place in nature if we are to reverse the damage caused by many years of our ignorance of the way things work in the natural world. The author takes us on a deep look at how we can make the world a better place for all life. His stories come from his experiences, and that stands out throughout the entire book. When he writes about a grizzly encounter, he has lived it!

One thing that really stands out to me is that he doesn’t get preachy, but guides the reader by showing us the natural world and giving us a different perspective. I enjoyed the author’s writing style. The photos are amazing! But, I think the message is the more important part of this book. We humans need to start to learn our place in nature. We should figure things out before it’s too late. We all know the climate is changing, glaciers are melting, coral reefs are dying, wildlife is going extinct, and pollution (especially plastics) is out of hand. So, we need to pay attention to the authors that are trying to bring this to our attention. We need to heed the call to action and do something about it, before it’s too late to preserve anything at all.

Four-fifths a Grizzly is a book about a lot of different biology topics including grizzly bears. It is quite heavy on facts and less so on narrative. Might be good reading for entry level biology students to be introduced to biology topics in a novel way.

This book was a little too science forward. The author did have a sense of humor in writing at times but a lot was scientific names and facts. I appreciated the different sections and all the photos but this wasnt designed to be read on a tablet so the picture captions would just show up in the middle of paragraphs