The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears

This is really two books in one; only the first half is about Timothy Treadwell. The second half is a mishmash of general bear lore.The author never actually met Treadwell, but was a journalist who worked on the story about Treadwell's death and was thus on the site and involved with the investigation. He also extensively interviewed everyone who knew Tim well.The biographical information on Treadwell is rather scant. Although to be fair, the title makes it clear that the emphasis is on his work with bears and his death, rather than a comprehensive biography. The definitive biography on Treadwell has yet to be written (and perhaps none is needed.) The reader learns Treadwell's real name, where he grew up, and about the athletics he participated in during high school and his two years of college. But we don't learn anything about his family, early life, or why he was estranged from his family. I would like to have seen more research done on this part of his life.The info about Treadwell's work with the bears is excellent, however, as are the details of the investigation into the fatal bear attacks on Timothy and his friend Amie Huguenard. Jans' is the most balanced and fair account of Treadwell's work that I have seen. He neither vilifies nor venerates Tim as others do, but acknowledges both aspects of Tim's personality and work.I also would have liked to see more about Amie. She wasn't the celebrity Tim was, but she lost her life because of him and deserves to be remembered. There is almost nothing here about her background, but Jans does do a good job of exploring and explaining their relationship.One particularly striking thing in this book is that the author was able to connect the killer bear to Tim's nicknames for him, and find photographs of him in Tim's work. Most other bear experts and the people who worked with Tim in Alaska concur with Jans' identification.The first half of the book - the part about Timothy Treadwell - is definitely the most exciting.The second half has little to do with Tim and doesn't seem to belong in this book. It feels like filler. It's a rather meandering collection of bear facts, Inupiat Eskimo mythology regarding bears, and the author's experiences with bears. I don't mean to imply that it isn't interesting or worthwhile - it is - just that it would be better suited to a book of its own and could be better organized.Nick Jans' expertise and experience with bears is undeniable, as is his respect and admiration for them. He talks about his deep and lasting regret for having later hunted and killed a bear who, two years earlier, had spared the lives of himself and a friend when they peered into his winter den thinking it was empty. Jans also knows and has worked with most of the top scientists in the field of bear biology and behavior, including Dr. Stephen Herrero.In fact, another one of the highlights of this book is Jans' extensive referencing of a then-ongoing study by Herrero and a colleague (Smith) that had not yet been published. Through it, Jans gives us Herrero's most up-to-date (at the time of this book's publication in 2005) information and opinions, some of which have changed since the publication of Herrero's own book Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance.I was also interested in the information about a huge trained Kodiak (a type of grizzly) bear named Bart. He appeared in numerous commercials and movies including The Edge, the French film The Bear, Quest For Fire, and (although Jans doesn't mention this one but I remember seeing Bart the Bear's name in the credits) Into The Wild.But again, these things have nothing to do with Timothy Treadwell, the subject of the book as implied by its title.At times the language is a bit awkward, such as this example: "So - can you get away with violating common sense and turning your nose up at bear precautions and still breathe right?"Some have accused Tim of having a death wish, deliberately taking suicidal risks. Jans doesn't think so, nor do I. After reading this book it seems clear to me that Timothy Treadwell was simply immature. He never really grew up emotionally and thus still had that teen/young adult attitude that bad things only happen to other people. He had a foolishly inflated, but still very real, confidence that his relationships with the bears would keep him safe.Treadwell was also something of a liar and a con man. I've seen clips of Tim's videos, and they are almost laughably amateurish and unscientific: he's obviously making it up as he goes along. While claiming to serve as a role model and educator about bears for kids, much of Tim's behavior around the bears was shockingly irresponsible.Yet Timothy Treadwell was passionate about his work, and he did accomplish some remarkable things (staying alive for 13 summers while taking the risks he did is one of them.) Jans does an excellent job in showing us the whole person that was Tim. Although The Grizzly Maze has its flaws, it is a worthwhile, informative, and very interesting read.Note that if you read the Kindle edition of this book as I did, you will miss out on the superb and very helpful photographs. I ended up checking out a copy from the library to look at them, so I might as well have saved myself the price of the Kindle book. I wish now that I had purchased the dead-tree book, with its photographs, for my permanent library instead.(274 pages)

I read this book before reading Mike Lapinski's "Death in the Grizzly Maze" and I'm glad. I'll tell you why in a minute. First of all, Nick Jans writes a great book, informed us a lot about bears, and about Timothy Treadwell, and the details regarding the deaths. He discussed bear predatory behavior, being familiar with it. He cautioned us about following in Tim's footsteps, being a self-styled bear whisperer, as they are dangerous and unpredictable, especially when the salmon run is about over and bears will eat anything to fatten up before hibernation. He discussed Tim's histrionics in his films and how he foolishly dared to live among the grizzlies (mostly Kodiak Browns, but he said Tim thought "grizzly sounded sexier." In fact he wasn't killed by a grizzly but a reddish brown bear in the Brown Bear division (larger than grizzly) ). He liked the guy though he never met him.This is a gripping book. I couldn't put it down. Jans knows how to describe what he has learned about the man, and his behavior. He burst the heroic balloon of Grizzly Adams the so-called friend to bears--he was in fact a cruel and vicious man who trapped, killed mothers and cubs, beat and abused bears from cubhood on. I didn't know this, but apparently there is a book out about it (probably you can google it and buy it at Amazon but I won't; I can't even watch animal, dog or horse movies--or even old Lassie episodes (knowing how they are abused--despite .the claims that "no animals were harmed...")He also told other truths about Tim, but gave poor co-victim Amie Huguenard mighty short shrift; and in fact she was shunted aside like a useless piece of baggage. To add insult to injury, she was portrayed by Jans as a rather attractive person, but "not sexy", i.e., not a hottie as Tim usually dated. Rather than give us some history about Amie, whom I found out in Lapinski's book was very interesting. She had a masters degree, was tough and pretty, very tiny, and other fine traits. The reason I'm glad I read this book first because in Mike Lapinski's book there is a generous chapter on Amie, her family, education, many accomplishments, personality (she could hike Tim and any man into the ground carrying a heavy backpack--had hiked every national park and climbed steep mountain ranges as well, before meeting Tim), and how she was loved and later, sorely missed.She wasn't some weak little thing. Her only weakness was Tim himself. Jans decided to write about his own bear hunting exploits in a book that should be only about Treadwell.Lapinski in HIS book clarified that Tim and his parents were not only NOT estranged but he kept in touch with them at least twice a month regaling them with tales of his adventures and they loved him for it. Sure, Tim made up stories about being an Aussie orphan but that was for fun, and for show. If he wanted to perpetuate the orphan image he'd not have wanted to drop the accent. His folks didn't mind, and he knew it, I will review the other book when done with this review.)My greatest disappointment came later in the book when Jans devoted a chapter to himself, and own bear hunting and killing, again totally out of place in this book. He seemed to have enjoyed hunting bears and other animals and then, realates how, after killing a particularly magnificent one, how he "sat there, rocking back and forth crying as if he were my brother..." He didn't feel brotherly enough to stop killing them for a number of years after. "Nearly 20 years have passed. I've met dozens of bears...wish I could...gather my bullets in midair back into my rifle..." "My friends tell me I think too hard [probably guilt feelings]." Well, boo, and likewise hoo.This is an unnecessary chapter titled "The Skulls That Are Mine" meaning he has kept the skulls of bears to remind him of his guilt, and he has bearskins, as well. He beats himself up over Michio Hoshino's death, with which he had absolutely nothing to do, as it took place 1,000 miles from where he was. Jans seemed self-obsessed, and was as passionate about hunting bear as Tim was about saving them (albeit going about it the wrong way, spurred on by the media, too). Somehow he was able to devote a chapter to his hunting. "[Timothy and I] each loved bears and driven by our love, brought them to their death. The final irony is that because I killed bears legally and by design, somehow I'm guiltless; Timothy, because he did so indirectly and by accident, is vilified." Give me a break. I gave it 4 stars for readability but stopped short of a 5th due to the self-aggrandizing crap about his hunting days. Why doesn't Jans write about his hunting days to pander to the bear hunters who enjoy killing? This is a book about a guy who would have shuddered at any killings of any wildlife. Admittedly, Tim went about it the wrong way, and he was a weird dude, but well...you'll like the book anyway.

This is a great book and Nick Jans is an incredible author. This book is a must read story about Tim Treadwell and his life and death among the grizzlies.

Review of "The Grizzly Maze" by Nick JansTimothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed by grizzly bears in Alaska, and six minutes of the attack on Treadwell were recorded on the soundtrack of his camcorder. The existence of this tape, combined with Treadwell's celebrity status, his hundreds of hours of film footage of the animals he loved, and his dogged determination to be up close and personal with grizzly bears, captured public curiosity about his life and resulted in books, articles and films.Nick Jans' well-researched book, "The Grizzly Maze", approaches Treadwell's story more from an ethological perspective than a psychological one. It details Treadwell's behaviour and includes the views of a wide variety of people who came into contact with him. Pilots of chartered float planes, wildlife rangers, friends, critics, supporters, and the people who dealt with the aftermath of the horrific bear attack all get a chance to give their take on Treadwell as a person and on the controversial nature of his interactions with bears.The book also paints a picture of the Katmai National Park and the community of bears that Treadwell was drawn to year after year, placing them in a dramatic landscape that makes you want to jump into one of those tiny float planes and soar in the air whilst the magnificent landscape unfolds below. One of my favourite passages in the book is Jans' description of the plane journey that took him away from the site where Timothy and Amie met their tragic deaths. Jans writes of flying ..."... away from Kaflia and the torn remains of the bears, through a craggy, glacier-draped pass, and a funnel of austere peaks where the first snow lay spackled on dark rock. Then a land of sparsely forested valleys, crystal rivers and lakes, that in turn was replaced by a volcanic moonscape - the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. First came the Novarupta Crater, site of the massive 1912 blast that remains one of the most violent single volcanic eruptions in recorded history. Then we passed low over a mountainside where fumaroles vented steam into the air; shortly after the eruption there had been thousands of such "smokes,"which gave the place its name. Beyond lay a vast, undulating plain of volcanic ash, the Valley itself, which more resembled a stretch of Arabian desert than anything Alaskan. Once-lush forests of birch, balsam poplar, and spruce had stood there, now blasted flat and buried, perhaps to be unearthed and marvelled over by geologists in some future world. Across the face of this desolation the River Lethe carved its own stark canyon. The valley gave way to a line of trees and brush; the world became itself again, and beyond, the blue-tinged glacial waters of thirty-five-mile-long Naknek Lake."Jans' writing style sweeps the reader along and makes you want to keep reading. I learned a lot about Treadwell by being given access to the thoughts and opinions of people who knew him, and who often had strong feelings about the life he chose and the risks he took. I also learned a great deal about bears, tourists, conservation, and how to behave around bears. By the end of the book, I felt like I'd been given a glimpse of the place that Treadwell thought of as home and the bears that - with such terrible consequences - he saw as his friends.I highly recommend Jans' book and guarantee it will make you want to read more! I suggest that it is followed by Timothy Treadwell's own book, "Among Grizzlies", which was co-authored by his friend Jewel Palovak. For a slightly more psychological approach, I recommend "Death in the Grizzly Maze" by Mike Lapinski. And, of course, Werner Herzog's film "Grizzly Man" is not to be missed.

Very good book and excellent written. ***** stars !!!After numerous books about the Treadwell incident .. this is finally a book which not only gives you the facts but also what may have led to this sad situation and overall the sensitiv handling of close encounters with wild animals.I have been reading so many books about it and not one really came close to this one.Having made my own misled steps towards wild (Kenya and Chitwan Nepal)I would like to thank the author for putting the reasons and eventually following consequences for ill made decisions concerning human-wild animal encounters in words and also give enough background knowledge to understand the problems.People in our world mostly live in towns or areas without ever getting in touch with the wild.Loving animals and nature they read about it in books and think this is all true.How wrong in most of the cases!There has to be a stop in the presentation of so called "Education movies about the wild" to schoolkids and the public alltogether when this books are written in the "nicey-nice" Treadwell, Jeff Corwin, Kieling, Steve Irwin - Manner.Sad to say when BBC, Disney and other world known media groups show this movies for financial interests to the public, giving the "normal" citydwellers the idea that this all can be done to the wild animals without getting hurt or in the "better" cases just to harass and in the end ... hurt this wonderful animals.Besides...this movies are mostly made (not the ones Steve Irwin made) with tamed animals and lying about it in the movies, what should actually, in my opion, be forbidden. Taking a tamed animal and tell kids and adults that these are wild ones and can be handled like this.. is hilarious and dangerous when it is done for "education reasons"There has to be a law in the way that any movies about wildlife which are shown to kids and adults for Eduacation reasons have to be censored by REAL experts for this kind of animal or theme.Because if a message is sent out it should be the right one.I have learned my lessons, a bear is a bear is a bear and a tiger is a tiger is a tiger and a lion is a lion is a lion etc.Glad I never got hurt but some of my anitcs definitely were bad ideas, even I never stept close to a wild animal on purpose, always kept a very comfortable space, but took badly advised "treks" into very dangerous places.Excuse any misspelled words ... english is not my mothertongue!

This is a well written and compelling account of the work and passing of Timothy Treadwell, a self-styled bear whisperer who took risks that fatefully led to his and his girlfriend's deaths. Its a tragic but very interesting read. Timothy chose to live a less than ordinary life - maybe he lived out the adventure few of us will ever manage, doing what he enjoyed for as long as he could. Theres lots of criticism and lots of judgement of him. Read it and make your own mind up.

Unglaublich aber wahr.