Doug Peacock is a force with a point. He travels with kindred spirits. When asked to be "the bear guy" and walk point when out in polar bear country on a beluga whale expedition to the Canadian High Arctic, the weapon he chose to protect his clients was a home made spear. I'd like to hear what his pals on the trip, Bart Lewis, Rick Ridgeway and Doug Tompkins had to say about that. I imagine them right behind him, tense and grinning.

Peacock was serious. Having spent big chunks of time with bears he respects and reveres them. The same for the wild country they come from. In IN THE SHADOW OF THE SABERTOOTH, the reader can draw on his immense experience in the wild to help make sense of the narrow, arcane, academic and political landscape of early North America archeology. It is a notion of inquiry that I applaud. In the towering needles of the academic silo today, the forest gets lost for the tree, if not the cellulose. A smart, experience layman to take a big picture look at what North America looked like when humans first appeared is an enticing prospect and Peacock does just that.

I gave 4 stars instead of 5 not because of issues with the author perhaps, but more with his editor. This is great material but it could have been laid out better. Too much is repeated and not enough time developing what it would have been like to be there as the ice began to melt 13,000 years ago. Not that you would last long. Have you heard of the Short-faced Bear? 6 feet tall with a nose that can smell a carcass 20 miles away, and no natural fear of humans, Peacock speculates that it may not have been possible for humans to survive while it was around in numbers.

Up to date archeology and a big picture perspective from a guy who has actually spent real time in wild places make this an armchair expedition worthy of a place on the bookshelf. ( )

Doug Peacock is a force with a point. He travels with kindred spirits. When asked to be "the bear guy" and walk point when out in polar bear country on a beluga whale expedition to the Canadian High Arctic, the weapon he chose to protect his clients was a home made spear. I'd like to hear what his pals on the trip, Bart Lewis, Rick Ridgeway and Doug Tompkins had to say about that. I imagine them right behind him, tense and grinning.

Peacock was serious. Having spent big chunks of time with bears he respects and reveres them. The same for the wild country they come from. In IN THE SHADOW OF THE SABERTOOTH, the reader can draw on his immense experience in the wild to help make sense of the narrow, arcane, academic and political landscape of early North America archeology. It is a notion of inquiry that I applaud. In the towering needles of the academic silo today, the forest gets lost for the tree, if not the cellulose. A smart, experience layman to take a big picture look at what North America looked like when humans first appeared is an enticing prospect and Peacock does just that.

I gave 4 stars instead of 5 not because of issues with the author perhaps, but more with his editor. This is great material but it could have been laid out better. Too much is repeated and not enough time developing what it would have been like to be there as the ice began to melt 13,000 years ago. Not that you would last long. Have you heard of the Short-faced Bear? 6 feet tall with a nose that can smell a carcass 20 miles away, and no natural fear of humans, Peacock speculates that it may not have been possible for humans to survive while it was around in numbers.

Up to date archeology and a big picture perspective from a guy who has actually spent real time in wild places make this an armchair expedition worthy of a place on the bookshelf. ( )