The tiger: a true story of revenge and survival, by John Vaillant

This is part story about tracking down a vicious man-eating tiger, part history lesson and part call for conservation. Vaillant does a good job narrating his own work, but with all its hero-worship and alpha-males, it was a bit too much chest-thumping for me. The story to which all Vaillant's wild tangents are anchored is the hunt for a man-eating tiger. Full understanding, and the whole story, is revealed only once Vaillant has related a number of other anecdotes regarding other tigers and explained several related facts habitat and political pressures. For all that, and if you can keep with it, you will learn interesting factoids about tracking tigers, why some tigers become man-eaters, the history of tigers and conservation in Russia (and what crushing poverty will drive people to do), as well as insights into life in the Russian hinterlands. A little Chinese medicine is thrown in for good measure.
audio: 12 hours
print: 352 pages