A tribute to the polar bear by pre-eminent researcher Ian Stirling and intrepid photographer Dan Guravich, featuring 160 color photographs. It's an excellent combination of outstanding color photography, solid information on natural history and Inuit lore. With chapters on polar bear biology, distribution and abundance, behavior and study, the polar bears of Churchill, environmental concerns and the conflicts between people and bears.  (ARC58, $29.95)

Spitsbergen