Synopsis

A tender, ribald story about relationships and growing up, THE RESULTS OF POLAR BEAR RESEARCH takes the reader to Lake Summit in the mountains of North Carolina, where college students spend the day water-skiing and the evening socializing. John Dawes secretly rues the day he has to graduate from college and enter the adult world. To John, adulthood is a wilderness of blowhards and judgmental hypocrites.

Harriet Smiley, whom everyone calls "Harry," seems to be a wish come true for John. She charms him with large, vulnerable, dark-green eyes and a trembling voice. the very picture of innocence. Their relationship will teach John things he could never learn from a textbook.