Friday, February 15, 2013

Review: Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye:

  A Family Field Trip to the Arctic's Edge in Search of Adventure, Truth, and Mini-Marshmallows by Zac Unger

More than anything else, this book has to do with Zac Unger's search for truth about the polar bears and adventures related to them, mini-marshmallows not so much. Also, the parts mentioning his family, while entertaining and interesting, play a small part overall in the book.

The big question seems to be: Are polar bears going to become extinct as a result of global warming? The answer seems to be: Depends on who you ask and when. There's plenty of information to make up your own mind as well as the conclusions that Zac draws. There are of course lots of little questions as well and memorable people to meet like Linda Gormezano and Brian Ladoon. This mostly takes place in and around Churchill in Manitoba, Canada.

Churchill is a town on the shore of the Hudson Bay famous for the number of polar bears that move toward the shore from the inland in the fall waiting for the bay to freeze over.Churchill has developed quite a tourism industry around the presence of the polar bears during this time of  year. The tundra buggies and their similar counterparts roll out for tours. People show up from all over the world. Even Zac Unger takes a tour on one of these vehicles in an effort to get closer to the polar bears.

It's an interesting book. He finds some truth for himself. It gets a little bogged down in the science in places. For the title, it could have used more involvement with his family. I was expecting it to be a little bit of a lighter read because of the title. It's still an enjoyable book. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.