A look at a community of timber rattlesnakes examines their ecology, evolution, New England history, and American culture and offers a defense of this outlaw species. 10,000 first printing.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Palmer's book is a rarity--fascinating nature writing that includes human history and sociology along with ecology and evolution. Palmer takes that unloveable creature, the timber rattlesnake, and uses it to discuss an incredible variety of topics related to our relationships with the natural world, especially rattlesnakes. He emphasizes the area of the Blue Hills just south of Boston, probably the last remaining habitat for the timber rattlesnake in New England. He shows us the world and its history from a perspective we seldom even imagine. Landscape with Reptile is essential for herpetological and regional New England collections and is an excellent selection for general natural history collections.
-Katharine Galloway Gartska, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Ala.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Katharine Galloway Gartska, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Ala.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Highly engrossing account of a small group of rattlesnakes just south of Boston. The Blue Hills, within sight of the Boston statehouse, are deep in mixed pine and hardwood, with miles of southern-facing rocky outcrops, ideal for coldblooded creatures to sun themselves. Here, Palmer takes us for long rambles and reveries: How, for instance, does it feel to be the victim of Crotalus horridus? In a strikingly original and sympathetic passage, he puts us inside a chipmunk's mind as the animal is bitten by a rattler and dies. The rattlesnakes of the Blue Hills are so reclusive that Palmer tramped the woods for years, never seeing one until he went in May to their stony lairs, where they were emerging from hibernation. Rattlesnakes are rare there for one reason only: ruthless extermination. Palmer has traced this history back to the Massachusetts Bay Company. He quotes Cotton Mather: ``Our Trained Bands in some of our Countery towns...carry on a War with the Snakes....'' The 18th century saw bounties for all sorts of creatures (including 100 pounds for the scalp of an adult male Maine Indian, and 50 for the same of a woman or child). By examining which towns had higher bounties, Palmer is able to estimate where rattlesnakes were most prevalent. Among a great number of interesting essays, Palmer gives a complete history of bite treatment (including such 19th-century methods as a ``half pint of bourbon every 5 minutes, until a quart had been taken''); visits with writers who defended Crotalus, from Thoreau to Oliver Wendell Holmes; and offers introductions to the rattlesnakes' silent US relatives--the pit vipers--which include the widely dreaded fer-de-lance. Prime nature writing, capably focused through multiple views of natural history, ecology, medicine, history, evolution, and anthropology. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting and readable, but more sociology than natural history,
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This review is from: Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World (Paperback)
This book covers man's relationship with the Timber Rattlesnake in Massachusetts, with strong coverage of the park which is the rattlesnakes one remaining stronghold in the area. It is NOT a natural history book, though oddly it gave the clearest brief exposition of the evolution of rattlesnakes I ever read. I enjoyed reading the book thoroughly, and learned a lot about the historical relations of Boston residents with nature and especially rattlesnakes. Oddly, I didn't learn much about rattlesnakes that was new to me!
Mostly worth reading if the history of the Boston area is of interest to you, or if you have a special interest in the natural history of the region. Others can read it for enjoyment, but won't find it astoundingly useful.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The History of a Uniquely American Demon,
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This review is from: Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World (Paperback)
A number of years ago while walking in broad daylight I placed my foot inadvertently within a foot of a western diamondback rattlesnake near the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico. The snake, who seemed to have been sleeping in the late afternoon sun and was facing away from me (fortunately), shot off in the opposite direction, rattling furiously. I could have killed it easily, as it coiled under a bush nearby, still rattling, but I did not. In fact I've killed only one rattlesnake in my life- a young diamondback that was under a board at the back door of a house in Tucson. This is not for lack of seeing them, from blacktails in the mountains to diamondbacks, Mojaves and sidewinders in the desert and prairie rattlers in the grasslands, I've had my share of rattlesnake encounters. I just don't understand why I should destroy such a magnificent beast in its own habitat.
Thomas Palmer's book "Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World" documents the history, both natural and human, of the relationship between snake and habitat and between man and rattlesnake (in this case the timber rattlesnake of Massachusetts- the easternmost species in the United States.) I've never seen this species in the wild, but it is similar in appearance and habitat to our western blacktails. Palmer has a similar appreciation to mine for the feisty reptiles, as he demonstrates in his writing. The history that Palmer recounts is certainly bumpy. The urge to destroy these snakes has been pervasive. There are now few rattlesnakes left in Massachusetts, mostly thanks to the antipathy between man and snake. Palmer shows that from the moment the Puritans laid eyes on the fierce rattlesnake they knew they must eliminate this minion of Satan, and so it has gone. Now all the timber rattlers in Massachusetts live in the Blue Hills near Boston. The colony is protected because it exists on a reserve, but the snakes, even today, are often regarded with suspicion and even hatred. Indeed (as Palmer documents), the bite of a rattlesnake is no joke. Still the death rate from all the snakebites in North America pales when compared with the slaughter caused by the automobile. The last I heard we were in no mood as a nation to ban the use of the internal combustion engine yet. I found a few minor errors (great auks are not penguins), but generally this is a fascinating and well researched and written account. Palmer is perhaps a bit more optimistic about our species than I am, but I also see his point- we are as much a part of the landscape as the snakes are in the long run and we as a species have some positive aspects as well. It is almost certainly correct to say that both environmentalists and proponents of the conquest of nature ascribe more power to our species than we probably have. We can do a lot of damage, but "nature" is quite capable if booting us. We cannot reclaim the biodiversity of the pre-human Pleistocene in North America as a whole (as some might wish), but, on the other hand, with glaciers covering Massachusetts there were no rattlesnakes or humans in that area then at all. As Palmer states, we are both invaders in Massachusetts and probably arrived about the same time! In the Southwest, where I live, the snakes predated humans by millions of years. A fascinating book to read, even if you hate rattlesnakes.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great read for Boston area naturalists,
This review is from: Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World (Paperback)
Landscape With Reptile gave me insight into the history of the relationship between rattlesnakes and New Englanders. As predators that pose a threat to humans teeter on the brink of extinction, its helpful to read a book like this and think about quality of life in a world without wildness, and how we can coexist with spectacular but potentially dangerous wildlife.
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