Down from the Mountain

The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear

By: Bryce Andrews

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The grizzly is one of North America's few remaining large predators. Their range is diminished, but they're spreading across the West again. Descending into valleys where once they were king, bears find the landscape they'd known for eons utterly changed by the new most dominant animal: humans. As the grizzlies approach, the people of the region are wary, at best, of their return.

In searing detail, award-winning writer, Montana rancher, and conservationist Bryce Andrews tells us about one such grizzly. Millie is a typical mother: strong, cunning, fiercely protective of her cubs. But raising those cubs - a challenging task in the best of times - becomes ever harder as the mountains change, the climate warms, and people crowd the valleys. There are obvious dangers, like poachers, and subtle ones as well, like the corn field that draws her out of the foothills and sets her on a path toward trouble and ruin.

That trouble is where Bryce's story intersects with Millie's. It is the heart of Down from the Mountain, a singular drama evoking a much larger one: an entangled, bloody collision between two species in the modern-day West, where the shrinking wilds force man and bear into ever closer proximity.

©2019 Bryce Andrews (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Love bears?

I just had to get this book, after I read what it was about. It is interesting to find out efforts made to protect the lives of grizzly bears. The story of Millie is interesting and sad. Bears may not always be popular but they are amazing and I really hope they find a way to survive in spite of us.

Authentic, heartfelt, beautifully written

Bryce Andrews takes us on an open, honest and soulful journey. His personal account of the life of Millie and her cubs leaves you feeling a range of emotions. Andrews is a true outdoorsman and conservationists, and his passion for Montana and its grizzly population is wonderfully apparent. He takes you there and opens your eyes. If his end goal is to leave you better informed and emotionally fulfilled, he hit the mark.

Great read!

Really enjoyed this book. And truly appreciated his efforts to coexist. Thank you for writing this book.

A Slice of Montana

Stirring story and reminder of our place in a sometimes wild place. A contrast between history and the present related to animals and the original human inhabitants of the Mission Mountain Range. A great description of an area some of us are fortunate to call “home.”

Well done!

The book and its narrator gave me a better understanding of bears and how people affect their habitat.

A story that takes you there!

Bryce Andrews is oe of the most interesting and compassionate naturalist story teller I have read in a long time. He sweeps you up and takes you with him on his journey of understanding the complicated relationship between Montana grizzly bears and ranchers. All of a sudden you are building bear fences with him while watching for grizzlies, and then become part of the conversation with the dairy farmer who is losing his corn crop to the bears. You will become intimate with Millie's life and the challenges she and her cubs have in their search for food. The story is real, sweet and at times raw - told in a way that only Bryce can. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the challenges that our current way of living is creating for man and beast. You will not be bored and will come away with a much richer understanding of these complicated issues.

Grizzlys

Not a sweet bear story. Bears are bears, wild creatures. The book is very informative,
presented situations to be resolved and a mystery to be solved, very creditable narration, and all in all completely engaging.

Not educational OR entertaining

First of all, its boring. Really boring. Secondly, it is sloppy journalism. The book is supposed to be about a bear but its really about the author's very boring life. By the end you learn nothing about the bear except that it was shot. The author wants you to think it was shot unjustifiably by hunters, or a poacher. But in reality he has no evidence about how it was shot. If you are interested in bears, learning about bears, conservation, or wildlife in general, this guy knows little about any of that. All this book really is, is an autobiography.

Too much memoir, not enough about bears

I picked this up because I had seen it on a display in Barnes and Noble and thought it looked really interesting. Upon actually reading it, I was bored almost to tears. You know how the subtitle says The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear? Well, it seems the author forgot that book was supposed to about, you know, THE BEAR rather his own personal memoir. I care about what he does and thinks only insofar as it helps to tell the story of the bear and illustrates a wider truth about human/bear interaction. Down from the Mountain reads like that might have been his intent, it was just executed badly. So very badly. As in, I was bored to tears because it is entirely possible a high schooler might have written this better kind of badly.

I'm just sorry I wasted my money purchasing the book and wasted my time reading this drivel. Happily, the book will be returned and I will get my money back. Unfortunately, the same is not true of my time, but I don't feel right reading reviews I didn't finish which is why I slogged through it. If you're looking for a better book on predator/human interaction and conservation in general, I highly recommend Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg. It is about mountain lions, not grizzly bears, but it does very well what I think Down from the Mountain tried and failed to do: use a single animal as a case study to illustrate wider truths about human interaction with animals, especially large, predatory ones who play significant ecological roles in the balance of nature.