Overview

In the late 1990s, the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, hired Steve Searles as a hunter to cull half its troublesome bear population. But as he began to prepare for the grim task, the bears soon won him over, and Searles realized there had to be a better way. He soon developed nonlethal tactics to control their behavior and overpopulation that heralded a landmark moment in the care and handling of the American black bear. But change was not without its challenges. To some, his success was dismissed due to his lack of formal academic training. Yet Searles never wavered in his commitment, and eventually became not just local folk hero but a nationally recognized expert. This high school dropout saved not just the bears, but, in many ways, his community. In a tradition that runs from John Muir to Bear Grylls, Searles finds a fellowship with nature and a deeper meaning in the world of bears. Do bears understand things we don't? Are they dialed in to some greater natural force? Unlike us, bears waste little time on unreasonable fears. Bears are fully in the moment. They have an inner peace that seems to offset their power and strength. That may explain why no other animal on the planet is as revered as the bear. As Searles shares his remarkable knowledge and we become immersed in the ursine world, you'll never look at bears or nature the same way again.

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Steve Searles is a self-taught bear expert who's been working with the animals for nearly three decades. Since 1996, he has been the wildlife specialist for the ski town of Mammoth Lakes, California, where he developed a global reputation for his novel approaches to keeping residents-and the bears-safe. Steve founded the town's ""Don't Feed Our Bears"" program and helped formulate Yosemite National Park's initial bear program. In 2010, he was the topic of the reality show The Bear Whisperer on Animal Planet. He is a native of Orange County, California. Chris Erskine is a nationally known columnist, with most of his work appearing in the Los Angeles Times and distributed to 600 papers nationwide. As an editor there, he was part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. He is best known for his weekly pieces on life in suburban Los Angeles. What the Bears Know is his fifth book. He is a native of Chicago and now lives in Los Angeles. Basil Sands is an award-winning narrator working between the Chugach Mountains and Pacific Ocean in Anchorage, Alaska. He has narrated for many bestselling authors and helped many less-known authors climb that ladder. He's a former US Marine who for several years in the '90s ran the dining hall at the NSA, a.k.a. ""Chef to the Spies."" He's been a logger, carpenter, scoutmaster, wilderness rescue medic, senior IT guy, and novelist, and was a minister for over twenty-five years. He rents space in his basement to four Leprechaun brothers; they make the best lager.

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