Customer Reviews

SNAKES PB (Smithsonian's Natural World Series)

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Contains information on lifestyle, structure, anatomy, senses, and snake locomotion. Most of the book provides a basic overview of several groups of snake (e.g. elapidae, boas, sunbeam snakes, vipers, etc.). Brief descriptions of each family are provided along with some specific details on a few individual species. The wonderful photos are included throughout the book. The "did you know" type boxes, found in each section, were of particular interest. This book neither intended as a species guide for snake identification nor for regional identification. However, it is well worth the price. Overall, well written & full of interesting facts + excellent photos.

As far as information on snakes of all types and covering fascinating species worldwide, this book is not one that should be missed. It is definetely good for the money. The photography in the book compliments the information quite well. What I found most interesting were the random pages throughout the book that discussed certain issues such as "A plundering vagrant- the brown cat snake on Guam," "A reproductive success story- the short-tailed coral snake," and "Which snake is the most dangerous." These are only a few of the interesting topics discussed. There were only a few small errors I picked up on. . . I believe there are 16 species in the genus Bitis, and and from my understanding, the golden lancehead on the island of Queimada Grande does have an extremely toxic venom (he claims it is not as toxic as it is thought to be). Other sources, including Bill Lamar, explain that it is very toxic and from the small number of people that have been envenomated, the mortality rate is higher than 50%. Anyhow, enough complaints b/c the book is really good.