The Blue Bear is a book about Alaska and a book about friendship. Startling places can create startling connections between people. Schooler welcomes us into a connection he made with a brilliant photographer in the fjords of southeast Alaska. Michio Hoshino teaches Schooler a ton about what matters. Although the book centers on the quest to get a snap of the elusive blue bear, it invokes heart-rending tragedy and the extraordinary love that developed between two friends.
With a body twisted by adolescent scoliosis and memories of the brutal death of a woman he loved, Lynn Schooler kept the world at arm's length, drifting through the wilds of Alaska as a commercial fisherman, outdoorsman, and wilderness guide. In 1990, Schooler met Japanese photographer Michio Hoshino, and began a profound friendship cemented by a shared love of adventure and a passionate quest to find the elusive glacier bear, an exceedingly rare creature, seldom seen and shrouded in legend. But only after Hoshino's tragic death from a bear attack does Schooler succeed in photographing the animal -- completing a…
This is an emotional journey like no other. Orsted suffers an unspeakable tragedy. The addictions he suffered at the time did not help. He fled to Montana to become grounded again, finding his feet among grizzly bears in Yellowstone. The book is raw. The pain in Orsted's life is visceral. But to watch someone drag themself up by their bootstraps from such a mess is humbling. I admired the honesty, the courage, and the will to keep going.
Award-winning Yellowstone photographer and documentary filmmaker Brad Orsted's seven-year search for refuge and redemption in America's greatest wilderness.
When Brad Orsted’s fifteen-month-old daughter, Marley, died mysteriously at the home of Brad’s mother, he descended into madness. Blaming himself, he plunged into an abyss of grief, guilt, and self-recrimination, fueled by prescription drugs and alcohol. He planned his suicide as his wife, Stacey, searched for a new beginning. She finally found a job in Yellowstone National Park and, with their daughters, Mazzy and Chloe, the pair fled Michigan, looking for refuge and redemption in the 2.2 million acres of glorious American…
Leftner describes a remarkable man I was lucky enough to meet in Sitka, Alaska. Richard Nelson was an anthropologist of remarkable talent. His time learning how to hunt, dog sled, and celebrate with the Koyukon tribe in northern Alaska never left him. I watched with curiosity how a man schooled in such an ice-bound northern land can find his feet closer to people. Nelson's uncertainty about his path shines through the writing. His talents drive him forward. If you are wondering what to do with your one precious life, this book will provide some sage pointers. Leftner's writing takes us right there.
2020 Banff Mountain Book Award Winner - Grand Prize 2020 Banff Mountain Book Award Winner - Mountain Literature
Richard K. Nelson was the host of the national public radio series, "Encounters" Nelson was an anthropologist who lived with Alaska Native tribes and spoke both Inupiag and Koyukon Based on Nelson's journals and interviews with Gary Snyder, Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, and others
"He listened to his [Native Alaskan] teachers, immersed himself in their landscapes as a naturalist, and became, without intending to, a great teacher himself." --Barry Lopez, from the foreword Before his death in 2019, cultural anthropologist, author, and…
My book describes the recovery of fifteen wildlife species back from the brink of extinction. I travel across Europe and North America to learn how the successes have happened. I meet the people who made the recoveries possible and suffer numerous surprises along the way.
The book shows how a recovering animal allows us to see them with fresh eyes. Attitudes towards them have often changed, and we know more about how to share the landscape. Some turn out to be wildlife superstars. Beavers, for example, teach us how to restore rivers that are buffered against floods. Sea otters show us how to capture carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it safely on the ocean floor. We learn how tenacious beasts can save themselves.... and can save us.
