Six men hiking across the Arctic tundra, with one rifle among them, come upon the tracks of a large carnivore. They argue at some length about what to do. Unable to agree, they do nothing, just muddle onward. This is the engaging lead to The Polar Bear Strategy. Ross is a senior editor of Smithsonian, 

and the book grew out ofan article he wrote for the magazine in 1995. The book reflects its origins: it is compact, lucid, insightful, scientifically sound but eminently readable, and written for the layperson.