Virgil: His Life and Times

Author of several books on natural history, including The Wolf Almanac, Busch returns with an account of the time he spent photographing grizzly bears in a pristine valley in British Columbia. (He uses pseudonyms for place names in order to protect the area from hunters.) For four years, Busch woke up at five in the morning, drove two hours along old logging roads and hiked three hours through brush to the two blinds he had built near the bend of a salmon-filled river. There he lay in wait with his cameras for the wildlife of the valley--cougars, wolverines, lynx, caribou, marten, blue herons--to appear around him. Busch saw many grizzlies gather salmon from the river, and his book provides ample information on the habits and history of these enormous animals. Unfortunately, his writing lacks the richness and complexity necessary to smoothly blend his memoirs (he spends many sections recalling his own history and attraction to nature) and his research. Even more disappointing are Busch's photographs: the most beautiful among them, and these are gorgeous, are of birds, trees and landscapes, not bears. Nonetheless, Busch's light, conversational tone makes for a pleasant, if not particularly compelling, account. 109 color photos. (Mar.)