| | The Snake Book |  | Author: Mary Ling
Creators: Frank Greenaway, Dave King
Publisher: Bt Bound
Category: Book
Buy Used: $47.09
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Media: Library Binding
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 12.5 x 10.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 0613286480
EAN: 9780613286480
ASIN: 0613286480
Publication Date: March 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Excellent customer service. Order inquiries handled promptly.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Slither into DK's Snake and you'll find yourself tantalized. Or is that terrorized? Either way, snake aficionados, and those looking to increase their appreciation of snakes, should not miss this gorgeous, full-color guide to the legless reptiles. Chris Mattison, a herpetologist and wildlife photographer, has gathered a concise compendium of facts, myths, and unbelievable images, with familiar as well as little-known species highlighted. While not zoologically comprehensive, Snake does provide a good sense of the diversity of these lovely and misunderstood animals. From the intricate patterns of the harmless checkered garter snake to the sheer magnificence of the deadly, 11.5-foot-long black mamba, each snake is presented with its best scale forward. Snake is full of great herpetological trivia, and the photos are sharply detailed close-ups. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
With spectacular close-up photographs and astonishing illustrations, this extraordinary book is the guide to more than 3,000 snakes from around the world. Fascinating physical and behavioral characteristics of these creatures are presented, with the most up-to-date information available about snakes' habitats, reproductive behavior, feeding practices, defense mechanisms, and much more. A complete, detailed directory lists all species of the 18 snake families; the special "Fact Files" section gives at-a-glance information about every featured snake.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Great Snake Resource July 3, 2008
The images in this book are top-notch. It's a great resource for tattooing because you can clearly see every scale on every snake photo. Very impressive photography.
 Impressive book, nice arrangement of contents July 2, 2008
I got this book for my daughter's 10th birthday. She really likes it. The pictures are vivid and colorful and abundant. She really likes how it is arranged by type of snake. It's written for anyone to read - not too simplistic, nor is it full of long scientific terms.
Snake January 14, 2008
I bought this book as a Christmas present for my 7-year-old grandson who loves snakes even though his father is terrified of them. When my grandson started opening the present and saw that it had a snake on the cover he put it down and hid it, quietly going on to another present. I was afraid he didn't like it but it turned out he didn't want his father to see it and be frightened. :)
The book itself is great. Lots of detailed pictures and good scientific information on the snakes presented. Later, my grandson sat down with me and showed me the type of python he had held at school and we talked about all the other snakes. This is a very good book for learning and identifying snakes. It is not, however, a replacement for a field guide.
Best Coffee Table Book Ever - also informative January 5, 2008
The photographs are large, colorful, and simply spectacular. After providing general information about snakes, the book spends the majority of time on specific species - most with their own two page spread. Each species is treated to a brief introduction, with key points of information, a glorious photograph, a little history, size, diet, etc. Some include mention of localities or related species.
This book is informative, but primarily serves as EXCELLENT eye candy for the snake lover and provides brief explanations of the more well-known or interesting species. The price is also right for what you get.
I can only think of one downside to this book - there are a few species/localites that I would liked to have read about that are not included on the "expose" pages.
WHAT AN INTERESTING AND WELL PRESENTED WORK August 10, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
To begin with, after reading the other reviews here, there is an apparent problem. I am not sure what happened, but it would seem that folks are reviewing two different books! This work, ISBN 0-7566-1365-5 has the title "Snake - The Essential Visual Guide to the World of Snakes" by Chris Mattison. It is by DK Publishing and the date of publication is 2006. We seem to have gotten our snake books mixed up here. The picture featured on this page is the same that I have in front of me now and is the one I am reviewing. That being said....
This is quite a remarkable book. It gives a broad overview of the world of snakes. The author, Chris Mattison starts with a chapter which gives general information about these wonderful creatures. He discusses their evolution, various environments, size and shapes, scales and their various patterns, anatomy and mobility, sense organs, hunting and feeding methods, venomous snakes, passive defense mechanisms, active defense mechanisms, reproduction, classification systems and, very importantly, conservation. The rest of the book consists primarily of a "snake Gallery" where the author discusses various specific species. The author then adds a very nice Snake Directory where he addresses various family groups.
The photography in this volume is some of the best I have reviewed. The photographs are vivid, sharp and very, very colorful. There are 450 illustration and close-up photographs and over 60 individual snake species represented. The text is general in format with short blurbs about each subject snake and is chucked full of great snake trivia. The book is simply a joy to read, over and over again.
Now please note. This is not a complicated text ment for the expert or the advanced student. The author's intent, which is so stated by the author, is to introduce folks to these creatures, spread some basic knowledge and understanding and give some idea where these creatures fall in natures plan. The text is indeed simple, but not overly so. The author does not use highly technical terms so this work is great for not only adults, but kids in general. The book consists of approximately 192 large pages and each page is packed with good, interesting and useful information. Now I am not a "snake expert" by any means, although I have been handling, collecting, photographing and observing them for well over 50 years now. From my limited knowledge, I found no errors in the text nor any bad information. Now all of you folks out there that are extremely knowledgable in this subject, just remember that not ever one shares your knowledge and every one has to start somewhere. As you know, there are many, many technical books out there, suitable for all levels. If you fall into this category, then you probably need to seek a more specific work. Just give the beginner and the curious a chance.
This work would be wonderful for any school library, home schooler or anywhere interested and curious folks gather. I like this one setting near my reading chair as it is a joy to pick up now and then, read a bit and just look at the pictures. Recommend this one highly.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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