Snakebit: Confessions of a Herpetologist

Leslie Anthony

2009 Greystone Books, Vancouver, xii, 292 pages

Clothbound with a dust-jacket. ISBN: 9781553652366

Suggested Retail $27.95

 

 

When I first heard about this book, I was somewhat suspicious — 'Confessions of a herpetologist' — who is Leslie Anthony? I searched my herpetological database and came up with nothing. When the book arrived, it was clear that he was a herpetologist —not just someone who likes amphibians and reptiles and decided to write a book about it. He has a Ph.D. in herpetology from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University's Redpath Museum. His acknowledgements include a number of well known herpetologists; still I couldn't find a single herpetological publication by him. Thus I started to read the book with dubious curiosity.

By the time I finished the prologue, I was hooked. Anthony's writing style is engaging and his insights into the herpetological community and biology of amphibians and reptiles are genuine and accurate. Since he completed his postdoc, Anthony has worked as an outdoors/sports journalist. The origins of this book stemmed from a trip to Finland to write ski story for an international travel magazine. While working on the story he found himself in the Arctic circle watching snakes (Vipera berus) sunning in rock outcrops surrounded by snow and skiiers. While observing these snakes in such an unlikely location, and after having been out of mainstream herpetology for a number of years, Anthony was struck by how important amphibians and reptiles had been in his life and he suddenly wanted to know why — and why his life was so distant from these animals now. Thus began the journey that led to this book. A journey of remembrance, renewing old acquaintances, and reliving past adventures.

Without going into too many details of the book, Anthony begins by recounting his childhood collecting amphibians and reptiles near Toronto. Eventually he landed a job on a faunal survey and became the herpetologist on the team. This work opened the door for him to meet James P. Bogert, who became his graduate advisor for his Masters. Anthony returned to Toronto for his Ph.D. under Robert W. Murphy, where among other things he played guitar in Rommy — the first and only phylogenetic rock opera (1988). He returned to play again in the tenth anniversary concert of Rommy II in 1998. During his postdoc at McGill's Redpath Museum Anthony worked with David M. Green.

Throughout his herpetological career, Anthony went on several herpetological expedtions, most with Robert W. Murphy, to places such as Baja California, Vietnam, and Armenia. These trips as well as several others make up a large portion of the book. The exotic locations are made all the more exotic by the expedition members and the author's ability to tell a good story. But herpetological expeditions make up only a part of his journey to examine his past herpetological life. In 2006, Anthony returned to the joint ASIH/SSAR/HL meetings in New Orleans. His part retrospective, part insider commentary on herpetological meetings is insightful, although many herpetologists may disagree with some of his observations — and ichthyologists will wholehartedly disregard his observations as rubbish.

At the end of his journey to uncover the importance of amphibians and reptiles in his life, Anthony writes:

 

"I owed a lot to herpetologists. Ultimately, they'd delivered me an understanding that no type of blind faith could ever serve up. Most importantly, I'd learned how to question and why. They had also given me laughter, absurdity, knowledge, deep time, discovery, healthy fear, and sheer terror. But if herpetologists... had taught me how to look at the world, then snakes had shown me how to see it. From within and never without. As part and not apart. Snakes led the way to a lifetime of natural appreciation. They'd also brought a sense of mystery, reverence, and true beauty. So I was indebted to them too..."

 

I think most herpetologists I know could easily agree with these sentiments. I also think most herpetologists would enjoy this book. It is very well written and engaging from the very beginning. Anthony pulls in tidbits from a wide variety of sources (Ditmars, Minton, and Francesco Redi to name a few). There is much in this book that herpetologists will be able to relate to. There are also several characters in this book that are well known in herpetological circles. If you have any inclination towards biographies or true life adventures, you will probably enjoy this book. My only criticism of the book is that there are no photographs — of people, places, or animals.

After reading this book, I was armed with a bit more information about the author — where and what he studied — so I did another quick search to discover why I didn't have any references to any of his many publications. I quickly discovered that I had been led astray by the book. The author of the book is Leslie Anthony, however as a herpetologist he is known as Leslie A. Lowcock. Search for him using this name and you'll find a number of publications. If, like me, you have reservations about reading a book subtitled 'Confessions of a herpetologist' because you can't link the author to any herpetological research, you can cast those doubts aside. The author was (is) an able herpetologist.

 

On sale now for $20.00 

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Destruction of habitat due to urban sprawl, pollution, and deforestation has caused population declines or even extinction of many of the world's approximately 2,600 snake species. Furthermore, misconceptions about snakes have made them among the most persecuted of all animals, despite the fact that less than a quarter of all species are venomous and most species are beneficial because they control rodent pests. It has become increasingly urgent, therefore, to develop viable conservation strategies for snakes and to investigate their importance as monitors of ecosystem health and indicators of habitat sustainability.

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Now Available

Turtles of the United States and Canada, 2nd Edition

Carl H. Ernst and Jeffrey E. Lovich

 

 Ernst and Lovich's thoroughly revised edition of this classic reference provides the most updated information ever assembled on the natural histories of North American turtles.

From diminutive mud turtles to giant alligator snappers, two of North America's most prominent experts describe the turtles that live in the fresh, brackish, and marine waters north of Mexico. Incorporating the explosion of new scientific information published on turtles over the past fifteen years — including the identification of four new species — Ernst and Lovich supply comprehensive coverage of all fifty-eight species, with discussions of conservation status and recovery efforts.

Each species account contains information on identification, genetics, fossil record, distribution, geographic variation, habitat, behavior, reproduction, biology, growth and longevity, food habits, populations, predators, and conservation status. The book includes range maps for freshwater and terrestrial species, a glossary of scientific names, an extensive bibliography for further research, and an index to scientific and common names.

Logically organized and richly illustrated — with more than two hundred color photographs and fifty-two maps — Turtles of the United States and Canada remains the standard for libraries, museums, nature centers, field biologists, and professional and amateur herpetologists alike.

 

Suggested Retail $95.00

 

On Sale for a limited time — $71.00

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In updating the classic herpetological illustrations I just added a plate of salamanders from: 

Méhelÿ, Lajos. 1895. A magyarországi farkos kétéltüek álczái (Larvae amphibiorum urodelorum Hungarieae). Természetrajzi Füzetek. 18 (3-4): 149-165; 270-288, 1 plate.

The salamanders featured on this plate are, from top: 1. Salamandra salamandra (listed as Salamandra maculosa), 2. Ichthyosaura alpestris (listed as Molge alpestris), 3. Lissotriton montandoni (listed as Molge montandoni), 4. Lissotriton vulgaris (listed as Molge vulgaris), 5. Triturus cristatus (listed as Molge cristata)

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Our website has been in desperate need of updating for a long time now, and finally I have started this process. Many of the features of this new website are similar to the old one - but just work better. I'll try to give a brief overview of these, plus some of my plans for future additions.

The 'Main Menu' lists options available to everyone. Obviously the 'Herplit Blog' link will bring you to this blog. Why a blog on a bookstore website? — I am hoping that herplit.com is more than just a bookstore website. My goal has always been to provide a service to the herpetological community. With this blog I plan to announce updates to other sections of the website, particularly the classic illustrations gallery (see below). I will also provide book reviews and comments on books, both new, used, and antiquarian. In addition, I have ended up with several plates from old books and many of these will be featured on the blog. Finally, I have two six-year-olds and I will discuss my efforts to give them an appreciation of natural history and encourage their curiosity in the world. This will be done in the context of of the book "Last Child in the Woods" by Richard Louv — Highly recommended to anyone with young kids. In order to facilitate discussion, registered users will be able to comment on any blog posts.

The 'Select Inventory' and 'Inventory' links will open new windows for my inventories on HerplitSales.com and ABEbooks.com respectively. HerplitSales.com contains items from the Gow library and is a better place to see some of the rarebooks I have in stock as well as some of the bargain books that are available. ABEbooks lists most of my inventory, including most of the reprints and journal issues. Until I am satisfied with another shopping cart system, these two sites will be the best way to buy books online from me. Of course you are always welcome to order via email, telephone, fax or regular mail.

The 'Herplit Database' link will take you to a new bibliography program that I found for the web. Right now it seems to work okay with journal articles, but not with books or book chapters. I am working on getting this taken care of. I am also working on getting a better search engine written for the database. The old 'Herpetological Contents page' will be included in this database through links in the 'User Menu' once you are on the Herplit Database page. I will still try to provide email address links to the author for reprint requests, and in some cases I can link a website (for online publications) or to a pdf on another website. Copyright issues prevent me from creating a pdf library, but I can link to other websites with pdfs provided they hold the copyright.

'Classic Illustrations' will take you to selection of galleries. I haven't updated my old website with classic illustrations for quite a while. This new gallery makes it much easier and I hope to start adding new books to this page on a regular basis.

'Links' I have started to add links, mainly to herpetological societies, journals, and bibliographies that were linked on my contents page. However, this new links page will allow any registered user to submit links. All of these will be monitored to prevent abuse and any abusers will be blocked from creating links. I have provided several categories for links, but please let me know if you have any suggestions for additional categories. The links are also included in the website search in the upper right corner.

Below the main menu is the login form. Once you create an account, you'll have one login for the entire site. You'll also see a different user menu. 

On the right side of the home page is an area to subscribe to my new additions emails. These consist of about 100 items per list of items I am adding to my inventory. The vast majority are papers/separates, but I also include books. Occasionally I offer special sales - only through these lists. This module will also allow you to unsubscribe at any time.

'Herp Happenings' is a calendar of events. At this point I have only added herpetological meetings and symposia. I have considered adding other events, but right now I don't want to start adding Expos since there are too many of them and there are other sites which list these.

'This Day in History' is mostly a trivia module. I have started to enter the dates of birth and death for some herpetologists and I plan to continue to add these as I find time. Other dates of significance will certainly be considered - just send them to me.

That pretty much sums up the website as it currently stands. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.  

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