Kilham - In the Company of Bears

DAZZLE GRADUALLY

Reflections on the Nature of Nature

DORION SAGAN, LYNN MARGULIS

9781933392318

Paperback $25.00

For more information or to request a catalog,
visit www.chelseagreen.com or
call toll-free (802) 295-6300.

Praise for In the Company of Bears

Ben Kilhams In the Company of Bears is surely the most insightful book about animals written in the last one hundred years. His observation of black bears is the best ever done, his data are flawless, and these attributes have created a landmark of science that as far as I know has not been equaled with any other species. And if thats not enough, its also a page-turner and a must-read. It left me breathless.

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas , author,
The Hidden Life of Dogs and The Tribe of Tiger

Like Jane Goodalls studies of chimps, Ben Kilhams work with black bears is more than just revealing: its revolutionary. This riveting book supports two astonishing conclusions: that bears are far more sophisticated than most scientists dared imagine, and that dyslexia, once considered a failing, may simply be another, and often valuable, way of thinking. Bens work will transform our understanding of how animals liveand how science should be done.

Sy Montgomery , author, Walking with the Great Apes
and Search for the Golden Moon Bear

In the Company of Bears is a brilliant revelation about black bears and a paean to human potential. After decades spent caring for orphan bears and releasing them into the wild, Ben Kilham, a dyslexic animal lover, has now summarized what he has learned about their rich social complexity and humanlike intentionality. The result is to turn a supposedly familiar species into a creature of unsuspected acuity. Part science, part intuition, this enticing natural history is a provocative argument about animal minds, and an intimate celebration of life in the New Hampshire woods.

Richard Wrangham , author, Catching Fire: How Cooking
Made Us Human ; codirector, Kibale Chimpanzee Project

Magnificent! In the Company of Bears is a brilliant read. Kilham perfectly exemplifies how much the world has to gain from the exceptional insights of dyslexic individ uals, who often possess a special talent for finding order hidden in the complex patterns of the real world. We cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Brock and Fernette Eide , authors, The Dyslexic Advantage

No one knows black bears like Ben Kilham does. During the past decade alone he has raised and rehabilitated to the wild more than one hundred orphaned cubs. The social code of the bears, as so delightfully described in In the Company of Bears , includes cooperation, imitation, fairness, punishment for infraction, reciprocity, and other traits of this solitary yet highly social species. Human parallels are drawn, too. The charm and core of the book lie in its anecdotes and unique insights, especially of the female Squirty, with whom Ben has had a friendship for more than seventeen years. Read this fascinating book and see the bears world with new eyes.

George Schaller , author, The Last Panda ;
science director, Wildlife Conservation Society

In the Company of Bears by Benjamin Kilham is one of the finest books on the natural history of an animal that I have ever read. As gripping as the best novel, it is very readable and provides great insights into the mind of the black bear and the human. The research that Kilham has done on the behavior of black bears is groundbreaking and will lead us to a much better understanding of the development of intelligence in mammals and the evolution of cognition throughout the animal world.

James R. Spotila , Betz Chair Professor of Environmental Science,
Drexel University; author, Saving Sea Turtles

Kilhams latest is the most thought-provoking book that Ive read about bears. It not only made me think differently about black bears, it also enriched how I feel about them.

Stephen Herrero , biologist and author,
Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance

In the Company of Bears

What Black Bears Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition

Benjamin Kilham

Chelsea Green Publishing

White River Junction, Vermont

Copyright 2013 by Benjamin Kilham.

Originally published in 2013 as Out on a Limb .

All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs copyright 2013 by Benjamin Kilham.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means with out permission in writing from the publisher.