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Title: Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature by Harry W. Greene, Michael Fogden, Patricia Fogden ISBN: 0-520-22487-6 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Bushmasters, Eyelash Pitvipers, & Fire-bellied snakes
Comment: This book is not an encyclopediac treatment of snakes, but rather a natural history of some of the 2,700 species of snakes that are currently recognized. Eight chapters are devoted to general topics in snake biology, including anatomy, feeding, venoms (more snakes are venomous than we used to think), predation and defense, social behavior, reproduction, evolution, and conservation.
The illustrations supplied by world-acclaimed nature photographers Michael and Patricia Fogden are absolutely gorgeous---snakes in every aspect of their dangerous, seductive charm, including my favorite of Peringuey's Adder in Namibia. This snake's tail protrudes above the sand as a lure, and if you look very closely at the picture, you might make out eyes and head scales that are almost completely invisible between the grains of sand. It is quite startling to be looking at a pile of sand and suddenly see the outline of an adder's head.
The author, Harry W. Greene is Curator of Herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He opens each chapter in 'Snakes' with an essay that considers the subject from a more personal perspective: many of his fellow herpetologists have been bitten by venomous snakes, and some have died. The essays lead to Greene's epilogue and his answer to the question, "Why snakes?"
This book is a fascinating read. I sat down to learn more about garter snakes when I came across several of these handsome reptiles that were just emerging from hibernation. I soon found myself rereading the whole book. There are fourteen references in the index to 'Thamnophis sirtalis' (the common garter snake) but they are scattered throughout the book in interesting chapters such as "Diet and Feeding." I didn't know garter snakes were semi-aquatic and dined mainly on other watery creatures such as frogs. They also form mating balls which may stay together for two or three days---one female and multiple males. They spend the winter together in hibernaculums--one hibernaculum in Ontario was found to have over 6,000 garter snakes!
The author's favorite reptiles are the venomous snakes, their ability to cause damage measured in the number of mice that would die from the poison injected through a single bite. "Drop for toxic drop, the Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) wins hands down: a bite from this Australian cobra relative contains enough venom to kill two hundred thousand mice..." In the introductory essay, the author and some of his friends go scrambling through a Costa Rican rain forest, looking for the deadly Bushmaster (Crotalus mutus). They weren't bitten by the Bushmasters they found, just by "huge black ants with the most intensely painful and long-lasting sting of any hymenopteran."
If you'd like to explore the beauty and seductive grace of these ancient reptiles against a detailed backdrop of their biology and natural history, I highly recommend that you read "Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature." I own the hard-bound version, and it is 315 pages of dense text and hypnotic photographs.
Rating: 5
Summary: snakes
Comment: If you are an expert then this book is for you. but i wouldn't recomend it for a beginner. because he talks about pretty technical terms and if your not paying attention then you might miss what it means. It does have really good photos with some good discriptions. if you are looking to do a school report on snakes then this is the book for you.
Rating: 4
Summary: Beautiful photos
Comment: If you're an artist and like to draw and/or paint snakes like I do, I highly recommend this book. The photos are gorgeous references.
I found Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature informative; however, I wish it had been better organized. For example, it has a chapter on venomous snakes; a chapter on cobras, coral snakes, and their relatives; a chapter on seakraits and seasnakes; and a chapter on vipers, adders, and pitvipers. All these types of snakes (except maybe for some of the seasnakes) are poisonous. I hope I'm not sounding too presumptuous, like I'm interfering with the artistic process, but I would suggest that Harry Greene make venomous snakes a section in the book, with maybe some writings that cover all poisonous snakes and a picture or two of a snake striking or something, and put the other chapters in that section.
Mr. Greene also mentions certain snakes like the king cobra, but there are no pictures of them in this book! I really would have liked to see some.
Other than these things, I like Snakes.
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Title: Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (Organisms and Environments, 5) by Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt, Harry W. Greene ISBN: 0520234014 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Encyclopedia of Snakes by Chris Mattison ISBN: 0816030723 Publisher: Facts on File Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, Second Edition by George R. Zug, Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell, George Zug ISBN: 012782622X Publisher: Academic Press Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $74.95 |
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Title: Herpetology, Third Edition by F. H. Pough, Robin M. Andrews, John E. Cadle, Martha L. Crump, Alan H. Savitsky, Kentwood D. Wells ISBN: 0131008498 Publisher: Pearson Education Pub. Date: 10 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $93.33 |
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Title: Snake: The Essential Visual Guide to the World of Snakes by Chris Mattison ISBN: 078944660X Publisher: DK Publishing Inc Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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