With a body twisted by adolescent coliosis and memories of the brutal death of a woman he loved, Lynn Schooler kept the world at arm's length, dritying through the wilds of Alaska as a commercial fisherman, outdoorsman, and wilderness guide.  In 1990, Schooler met Japanese photographer Michio Hoshino, and began a profound friendship cemented by a shared love of adventure and a passionate quest to find the elusive glacier bear, an exceedingly rare creature, seldom seen and shorounded in legend.  But only after Hoshino's tragic death from a bear attack does Schooler succeed in photographing the animal--completing a remarkable journey that ultimately brings new meaning to his life.

The Blue Bear is an unforgettable book.  Set amid the wild archipelagoes, deep glittering fjords, and dense primordial forests of Alaska's Glacier Coast, it is rich with lyric sensiblility  and stunning prose of such nature classics as Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams and Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard.