Alaska, despite its many cities and roads, is still a land with large vistas of wild, untamed territory. Kaniut's book is a collection of several dozen Alaskan tales of death and survival, ranging from plane crashes in poor weather to bear attacks, climbing accidents, entrapment in mudflats as the tidewater poured in, winter stranding on ice floes, badger mauling, frostbite on hunting forays gone wrong, and many other true dramas. While the book is rather limited in its straightforward, no-nonsense approach (one could, without being disrespectful, call the style prosaic), it does make for good bedtime reading before drifting off to sleep. The wildness of nature that demonstrates the numinous aspect of God's creation in the last few chapters of Job can be seen in these stories, reminding us that man is not the master of everything he surveys. Nature is wild, dangerous, and commands attention and respect. Ignore this and you might die or be severely crippled (as some of these stories demonstrate.) Overall, this was not a great book, but a good one, a decent selection to take along on a camping trip.

READING THESE REAL LIFE ACCOUNTS WILL LEAVE YOU MARVELING AT THE POWER OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND THE WILLPOWER SOME MEN HAVE TO LIVE. YOU WILL SEE HOW TRADGEDY CAN STRIKE EVEN THE WELL PREPARED AND HOW NATURE CAN PUSH MAN TO UNTHINKABLE LIMITS. BY FAR, LARRY KANIUT'S BEST BOOK.

As a long time Alaskan, I enjoyed the true to life tales shared by the adventurers within the covers of the book. I found myself pacing the floor as I scanned the pages of this book. Not only was I unable to put it down, I was unable to sit down and read it. Good, book, Mr. Kaniut and contributors.

Bill Zeddies

Mr Kaniut has done it again. As in the first book Alaskan Bear Tales this one picks up where it left off. More chilling tales of the Ursus arctos horribilis in action. You can bet that anyone who reads this work will think twice about doing a dumb thing around a very unpredictable bear. The book is much more than a blood and guts thriller. It affords the reader an open minded look at the attacks and as you read you find yourself second guessing the victims. Larry has put forth alot of effort in his research I enjoyed the book and hope that there is a book three in the works...

Is this book exciting ? Does a bear sh*t in the woods ? This book, a couple of bears (and a couple of beers) is all one needs for some great reedin'. It kept me occupied while I await the release of Fox's "When Animals Attack IV". It kept me up all night, and I ain't takin' Viagra neither.

The saga continues from the first book. Spine tingling reading full of chills, thrills, and even some laughs. Do not pass this book up but be prepared to not be able to put this book down!

The "rapid fire" writing style renders this book difficult to read. The book is 300 pages long and it contains over 200 bear stories. Some are only a few words long and lack detail to such an extent that I wonder why they were included. Some are loaded with useful information. Others are simply pointless. Most were taken from a magazine verbatim.

Cynthia Dusel-Bacon's story alone was worth the price of the book. She wrote it herself after her terrible mauling and Larry Kaniut quoted it. Read her story and tell me you don't think black bears are dangerous and predatory.

I'd buy this book and keep it on my book shelf but I must tell you that I couldn't finish it because the last few chapters were simply too boring to be tolerable.

The stories are true life and death events of people who have been mauled by both black and brown bears in the Alaskan wilderness. This book gave me a new respect for bear and their habitat. Anyone who likes the outdoors where bears are present should read this book. A note of caution. This stories contian the bloody details that are the result of bear attacks. You may have a few sleepless nights on your next camping.

I will admit a little that am am a little partial to Larry Kaniut's books. I was lucky enough to have Mr. Kaniut as n English Teacher when I was in Junior High in Anchorage around 1980. During that time Mr. Kaniut would read to us the sotries that are contained in Alaska Bear Tales. As a struggling student he made me want to read and write.

I am lucky yo have a first edition copy of the book. In Alsak Bear Tales I knwo some of the people in the book so the stories are more real to me. Mr. Kanuit does a great job in pulling the reader into the story. His ability to get people to share the most horrific details of their encounters with bears keeps you wanting more.

Anyone looking to read real life drama this is the book to start with. You will not wan tto put the book down. Luckt for us Mr. Kaniut has written more then one book. Enjoy!

The book is well written but it was not what I wanted.I've really enjoyed books like Mark of the Grizzly.So when I got this I thought it would be sort of the same. Like I said it is well written and full of true encounters but they always end in the death of the bear by guns.I think if you are a hunter you would like this book but if you enjoy 'shooting' the bears with film I'd say don't read this one, you'll feel sad.

Larry does an excellent job of relating these stories. Any person planning travel to Alaska's back country needs to have this information before setting out.

This is a great book by one of the best authors on the subject. Mr Kaniut is an authority on the subject of bear attacks. He has devoted many hours, days and trips across Alaska to bring first hand accounts, when possible, not only by the victims but by tracking down witnesses to the attacks. I have read several of his books and never been disappointed. This is a must read for the outdoor and wildlife enthusiast. A book that will stay in your bookcase for a re-read.

This isn't a bad book, but there are better ones of this genre. Some of the stories are quite interesting; others, less so. Some could use more detail, more background research. According to the book, the author has taken up writing full time. You could have fooled me. This book appears to be written as a hobby, by someone who has occupational interests other than writing. But, some of the book is well documented, and overall the book is OK.

In Cheating Death, Larry Kaniut offers a series of short, unconnected tales of potentially deadly accidents whose victims walk away, if not unscathed, at least alive to tempt death again some day. Most of the accidents deal with the "normal" string of minor disasters that those who have lived in Alaska are pretty used to: small airplane crashes, small boat sinkings, small raft flippings, and encounters with not-so-small blizzards and bears. Most of these situations sound like the inventions of uninspired adventure writers except to those who have indeed lived for a time in the state that calls itself The Last Frontier, for we know that such adventures are indeed real life.

Kaniut's book is an eclectic collection of such adventures as might appear in glossy magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Shooter, and other such publications whose stories usually involve a vicarious injection of testosterone into the reader. In fact, it's usually an overload of testosterone that gets the victims into their scrapes to begin with: "Gee, there's a wide, fast-flowing, silt-filled river full of boulders. Let's see if I can conquer it in my noisy, polluting, totally unnecessary jet boat!" "Oh, look! There's a huge, ancient, majestic grizzly boar. Let's see if I can kill it with my very expensive sport rifle." The one thing that ties almost all of Kaniut's victims together is their chest-pounding bravado and their insistence on being where they shouldn't when they shouldn't-but that, too, tends to be real life in Alaska, as does the religious fanaticism that a few of the victims display ad nauseam.

Don't approach this little anthology looking for universal themes, character development, artfully interwoven plots and subplots, inspiring figures of speech (except maybe hyperbole) or anything at all of a memorable nature. However, if one is in need of some great outhouse reading material or wants to kill a few hours on the airliner between Anchorage and Seattle, Kaniut's collection of survival tales is the ticket! Knowing Alaska and its denizens, I have to admit that most of these wild tales may even have happened very much as they are told-with the exception of the giant octopus. That one I'm not buying (even if it does make a great read).

This book is full of excellent stories of survival in the vast and varied wilderness of Alaska. What I enjoyed most about these stories was the sense of ordinary people up against the extraordinary forces of nature and circumstance. There's a personal flavor to some of the chapters. Almost as if you're hearing your neighbor telling a story about his cousin up in Petersburg. Is this the best written book in the world? No, but the true stories are pretty good.