Spirit Bear Book Review
At the beginning of the year I set myself a goal to read 50 books. At this point I have read 34 of the 50. In the past I have often forced myself to finish books that I started because that just felt like the right thing to do – but recently I made the decision that I will only finish books that are speaking to me – I will no longer force myself to read something that doesn’t fill me up.
This past weekend I finished reading this amazing book: Spirit Bear Encounters with the White Bear of the Western Rainforest (affiliate link to the right)
This book was a super easy read for me. I found it so fascinating that putting it down was often a challenge.
The author Charles shares stories and his experiences as him and his crew create a documentary about the White Bear in the Western Rainforest. As I read this book there were many encounters that Charles shared that were such special moments. When this work was done he was one of the very few people that the bears had encountered. The curiosity and inquisitiveness that the Bears showed to him were so incredible. Reading this experience warmed my heart and once again just solidified that people are the problem with all the animals.
He shared of some incidents where the bears really wanted to play and be friends somehow – that these great creatures were not vicious although they certainly are extremely powerful.
“I reached out and scratched him with my fingers. Although he was quite gentle about it, he quickly brought his paw down on my hand in a way that said “no”. I tried the same thing with a foot-long stick and was surprised and delighted at the totally different response”
There were some moments in the book where it was so clear to me how much the animals felt his loving intention and desire not to disturb their natural habitat. They experienced Charles as a friend rather than a foe. Charles was very careful when he released this book into the world not to share specific details about the bears habitats but unfortunately the logging industry had some other ideas for the land and started to encroach on the bears space. Once the bears and the people started to interact on a larger level things started to fall apart very quickly as you might imagine.
In short, I would highly recommend this book if you have any interest in Spirit Animals in general or if you are specifically interested in the Bears as Spirit Animals. It was an easy read with a ton of information and a really raw, open path to the connection that animals and humans can have.
I’d love to hear what books if any you’ve read about Spirit Animals. Is there something you think I should read? Please share in the comments.