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Title details for The Book of Snakes by Mark O'Shea - Available

The Book of Snakes

A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World

by Mark O'Shea
ebook
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For millennia, humans have regarded snakes with an exceptional combination of fascination and revulsion. Some people recoil in fear at the very suggestion of these creatures, while others happily keep them as pets. Snakes can convey both beauty and menace in a single tongue flick and so these creatures have held a special place in our cultures. Yet, for as many meanings that we attribute to snakes—from fertility and birth to sin and death—the real-life species represent an even wider array of wonders.

The Book of Snakes presents 600 species of snakes from around the world, covering nearly one in six of all snake species. It will bring greater understanding of a group of reptiles that have existed for more than 160 million years, and that now inhabit every continent except Antarctica, as well as two of the great oceans.

This volume pairs spectacular photos with easy-to-digest text. It is the first book on these creatures that combines a broad, worldwide sample with full-color, life-size accounts. Entries include close-ups of the snake's head and a section of the snake at actual size. The detailed images allow readers to examine the intricate scale patterns and rainbow of colors as well as special features like a cobra's hood or a rattlesnake's rattle. The text is written for laypeople and includes a glossary of frequently used terms. Herpetologists and herpetoculturists alike will delight in this collection, and even those with a more cautious stance on snakes will find themselves drawn in by the wild diversity of the suborder Serpentes.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 15, 2018

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780226459424

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780226459424
      • File size: 50816 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2018

      In this image-heavy volume, O'Shea (herpetology, Univ. of Wolverhampton, England; Exploring Nature) discusses the evolution and diversity of snakes before looking at their body structure. The text covers topics such as hunting and reproduction. When particular species are mentioned, O'Shea also lists the page number where readers can learn more about them. The bulk of the work, devoted to different varieties of snakes, will particularly appeal to casual browsers. Each entry discusses related species, how dangerous the animal is, and its conservation status. But the visual graphics are the biggest draw: each page offers two photos (species were photographed to actual size), along with a world map with the snake's habitat highlighted in red. Succinct, conversational language makes the material accessible to general audiences. Labeled black-and-white sketches support the text. O'Shea doesn't go into a lot of depth--he simply can't with 600 types to cover, but readers eager to discover more will enjoy the extensive resources, which include books, field guides from various countries and continents, and herpetological societies and their website links. VERDICT A worthy purchase for public libraries.--Elissa Cooper, Helen Plum Memorial Lib., Lombard, IL

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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