the snake charmer
Excellent biography of a great scientist. Well written and very insightful. I highly recommend it.

"Into the Wild" for poisonous snake collectors
About halfway through this book I had a feeling of deja vu in that I was reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer but this time this young man with a loose screw(and an alcohol problem) for a brain collected poisonous snakes barehanded.

This book is not the page turner that Into the Wild was but I found myself thinking how many people this young man hurt by dying so foolishly. I know there must be many people, both personally and in his field, that knew this man had a screw loose but couldn't pinpoint his mental problem. Many probably did try to warn him but it was no use.

Maybe its a reflection of the soceity we live in. ESPN glorifies "extreme sports" in which people risk their health and lives pursuing some ridiculous sport. This man was probably no different. He probably thought he was impressing his friends and co-workers by repeatedly picking up dangerous poisonous snakes barehanded when his coworkers probably thought, as I do, this this guy was a little nutty.

My heart goes out to the people that was close to this young man. His coworkers knew this would happen sooner or later.

As far as the book, it simply was a little bit on the boring side. If the book had been more about the travel adventures of pursuing poisonous snakes in exotic countries(like Redmond O'Hanlons books)rather than dealing with the boring academic side I would have rated it higher.

Tragic story beautifully and eloquently told
Jamie James has written a fascinating account of the life (and unfortunately, premature death) of Joe Slowinski, and woven into the narrative details about herpetology in general and various snake species in particular. Joe was charismatic, brilliant, and impulsive. His sad, tragic end is not made easier to accept but becomes more understandable against the backdrop of Joe's entire life. Both he and Steve Irwin brought an infectious enthusiasm to the study of herpetology, and both their lives were tragically cut short. They will both be sorely missed.

Un-Putdown-able!!
When I first heard about Joe Slowinski's bizarre and tragic death by snakebite in Burma, I was fascinated and wanted to learn more. The moment I saw this book, I grabbed it---an impulse move that was a lot safer than Joe's impulsive grab into the snake bag containing the krait.

This book is riveting, being simultaneously a character study, an adventure story, a peek into the world of academic science, and a biology primer. It succeeds in all categories, making it almost impossible to put down and haunting afterwards. The author's writing is concise yet accurate and descriptive.

As a trained biologist and a herpetologist on the hobbyist level, I appreciated Joe's fascination with snakes. I am a turtle person myself (oddly, nothing much is said about the turtle people in the prestige rankings among herpetologists) but have also had a snake. I can verify that herp meetings that feature snakes have had nearly all male attendance, as Mr. James states. Snakes exert a draw for a certain type of person, exemplified in Joe Slowinski, that other reptiles don't. They have magic.

Like all possessed geniuses, Joe Slowinski would not have been easy to live with, but he contributed immensely to the life around him. It is so tragic that he did not get to fulfil his lifespan. I think the last 2 sentences in Mr. James's "Sources and Methods" afterword sums it up so well: "..it's the great gap at the end I regret most of all. It's a peculiar kind of sadness to feel sorely the loss of someone I never met."

Highly recommended, for readers of all ages and backgrounds.

Wonderful account of a sad story
This is an excellent account of a very sad event. The author goes in to detail about Dr. Slowinskis life as well as his tragic death. The events leading up to the end are an exciting story regarding herpetology and world travel. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in herpetology, anthropology or travel. For all of us that work with snakes it is a warning and "wake up call" as to what NOT to do. Buy it....well worth the price.
Larry Cartmill, Ph.D.
Huntington, WV