Book Review: The Snake Charmer

I, like so many other reptile enthusiasts, collect reptile books. Most of them, admittedly, are field guides and species accounts. Once in a great while I come across the biography of someone who was a mover and shaker in the herpetology world. The best of these books also find their way into my collection. The newest biography is by Jamie James and covers the life and times of Joseph Slowinski. I have to say that this book is certainly one of the most frank and honest biographies I have ever read. As such, it is well worth the cover price and most definitely worth reading.

Joseph Slowinski was born very close to the same time as I was so I was very in tune to the happenings described in his tale. Jamie James managed to bring details to life in this book without dragging you through the minutiae of day to day life. While I never had the opportunity to meet Joe in life, I can recognize the places and times when we passed by each other and just missed that encounter.

Joseph Slowinski was very much like so many of the young people who look to the elder statesmen of the snake handling community for advice and mentoring. He was enamored with learning and always wanting to find out and know more. So much so, that he did not wish to be slowed down by what many of us would consider common safety practices. For most of his life, he managed to escape serious consequences but from one early encounter he learned that he was allergic to antivenom. I cannot imagine a more serious drawback to someone who is utterly focused on field work with venomous snakes! Still, he persevered and his field work and notes opened new avenues and brought to light new species which before his charge into the field were unknown. One specific case is the Burmese Spitting Cobra, Naja mandalayensis, which he captured in a small village in Mayanmar (Burma). Several other reptile species have since been named for Joe Slowinski by his peers, out of respect for his field work and love of life. Perhaps the most widely known is Slowinski's Corn Snake, Elaphe slowinskii, which later became Pantherophis slowinskii, so named by Frank Burbrink whom Joe mentored at Louisiana State University.

From his earliest years of catching snakes in the yard and astounding adults with his fearless captures to his final moments that fateful day in 2001, Jamie James chronicles the life of Joseph Slowinski with a fair and honest precision that he credits mostly to Joe's meticulous personal note keeping. A great many people were interviewed and offered their own involvements with Joe to give the fully rounded tale that Mr. James presents to us. Travel abroad in underdeveloped nations to study and collect venomous reptiles is fraught with danger under the very best of conditions. Traveling through Southeast Asia during the rainy season, in areas where roads are mere paths of knee-deep, watery, boot-sucking mud, swirling with blood-thirsty leeches, is barely imaginable to anyone. To travel this way, on purpose, to hunt for snakes, is equally beyond normal belief. Never-the-less, that is where Joe wanted to be. Sadly, on September 11^th, 2001 Joseph Slowinski suffered a fatal envenomation by a Many Banded Krait, Bungarus fasciatus, in the far reaches of Myanmar (Burma). Even with the many fellow scientists who were there at the time, the accounts of what actually transpired were initially contradictory and baffling. Compounded with the other tragic events of the day, the coordination of the rescue attempt itself is a study in frustration and futility. The heroic attempts to provide first aid to save Joe's life are without comparison and tragically, bitterly unsuccessful. A small crowd of people struggled to keep their friend and peer alive against all odds. Jamie James has put great effort into sorting out the facts and presenting them to the reader in an unbiased way.

Having in my collection Harry Kursh's biography of Bill Haast and L. N. Wood's biography of Raymond L. Ditmars for comparison, I can easily recommend The Snake Charmer - A Life in Pursuit of Knowledge by Jamie James (2008 by Hyperion) as one of the best biographies about a herper available today. I am proud to have it as a part of my personal library.

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Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by roadkruzer on June 12, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Hey Karl, It was kinda strange to see you write about this book as I just bought it last week and am about half way through it. It's a very candid look at another herpers life and tragic end. I've really enjoyed it so far and definately recommend it. Jason Clark SnakesAreUs.com

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by rthom on June 13, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
An absolute must read for herpers.

Great review, Karl...	Reply
by RepFan on June 16, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
That was a great review, Karl. I am glad to see someone finally write a piece on this remarkable herpetologist. ~ Todd

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by BigBend66 on June 22, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Just bought it and can't wait to read it..

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Sal on June 23, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I have already read this book too. I thought it was great! It was nice to see my prof mentioned in there a few times. The book was well written and was easy to read. I highly recommend this book for any herpetologist or even people wanting to be an herpetologist. So when is the movie coming out?

Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on July 6, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I just finished reading the book "The Snake Charmer." It is an interesting book, and worth reading. It brings some interesting history about Joe Slowinski to light. Many herpers have heard of him, but most probably do not know much about his life history. The book was written by Jamie James, who is not a herper, but a professional writer. James took the information from Slowinski`s journals, and interviews with his relatives and folks who knew Slowinski, and tried to piece together a biography. He even traveled to Burma, and met the folks that Joe Slowinski was involved with. Overall, he did a pretty good job of producing a readable book. In the book, we learn that Joe Slowinski allways liked attention, and wanted to be in the spotlight, and that he was reckless, and did not mind breaking laws and rules to get what he wanted. We also learn that he got by with a lot because of his personality. Apparently, it was difficult for folks to not like him. He had a reputation of talking his way out of trouble. Joe Slowinski managed to get bitten by venomous snakes 3 or 4 times before he was 21 years old. He liked free handling snakes, and liked to push the limits with them. In the book, it is stated "In Louisiana, Jom became habitually cavalier about handling venomous snakes." A lot of Slowinski's advancement in the field was due to being in the right place at the right time. He just happened along when the new mDNA science was brand new, and he gained a lot of recognition for re-organizing the South and Central American Coral Snakes. He managed to get a grant from National Geographic, and helped collect specimins of a undescribed spitting cobra from Berma. Slowinski got involved in leading a trip to Burma for the California Acadamy of Sciences, and it involved bringing along scientists of many different fields, which doomed the expidition to conflict from the very start. They also traveled there at the height of the rainey season, making logistics very difficult. The trip was poorly planned from the start. They did not bring along much of the equipment that an expidition should have had along. And they ventured into areas that were supposed to be off limits. That later on became a large factor in the rescue efforts when Slowinski got bitten by a Banded Krait. While on the expedition, on an early morning, Slowinski was sorting specimin bags from the previous nights collecting. He reached into a bag without looking, and grabbed a 10 inch Banded Krait, which bit him. First hand reports said that he allowed the snake to remain attached for 10 seconds. He should have never allowed the snake to stay attached that long. He also did not use compression bandaging until several hours later when the venom started having an effect. The compression bandaging should have been started within minutes following the bite. He had been drinking rum heavily the night before, and should have not been working with venomous snakes that morning. The others on the expedition spent hours heroically trying to keep Slowinski alive, and trying to arrange a rescue. That was hampered by the fact that they were in a very primative area, and an area they were not supposed to be in. Also, it was hampered by the rains in the mountainous area. Evenutally, the krait bite won, and Joe Slowinski died on an expedition doing what he loved. It is unfortunate that the professional career of Slowinski only lasted about 10 years. He could have contributed a lot to future herpetology looking for new animals in distant lands. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to speak badly of Slowinski. I am just trying to point out some of the conflicts and events in his life. You should make your own decisions after you read the book. Perhaps this is the way things were meant to be for Joe Slowinski. Shooting Star ....... Now back to Jamie James, like I said before, he is not a Herpetologist. And he lets a lot of inaccurate things get through when he tries to add natural history facts about snakes to take up space in the book. Overall, though, he does OK. I will give a few examples, just for the sake of this review. They are not major errors, and often a matter of his interpretation of information, but still, a good review by a herpetologist before publishing should have caught some of these. He states: "Micrurus fulvius, the most familiar venomous serpent in the eastern United States, is known to consume prey with a body weight that far exceeds its own." I would question if the coral snake is the most familiar venomous snake in the eastern US. Also, I would question coral snakes feeding on prey that far exceed their body weight. He states: "Boa Constrictor. The snake's preferred prey are bats, which it catches by hanging from branches of trees or the mouth of caves and snatching the flying mammals right out of the air." Well, boas that are lucky enough to live near bat caves probably do this, however, I really do not think that this applies to all boas. He states: "American Copperhead. They are social species, frequently found sunning in groups near hunting sites and watering holes." How many of you have found groups of copperehads lounging around in groups near water holes ? He states: "the king cobra, the longest venomous snake on Earth; adults range from fifteen to nineteen feet in length." Umm, adult king cobras also range from 7 feet to 15 feet. The way it was stated in the book makes one think that king cobras over 15 feed are usual..... He states: "when it is threatened the king cobra raises the upper third of its body from the ground and expands its hook. In this posture, the snake is five to six feet high, tall enough to stare into a man's eyes." Well, that mythical 19 foot king cobra might do that, however, other king cobras do not raise their heads that far off the ground. He states: "the LD-50 standard, which expresses the amount of venom in milligrams required to kill mice weighing one-half kilogram" Wow, a half kilo mouse. That is about 1.2 LBS. Mighty big mouse. He shuld have said a group of mice whose combines weights is one half kilogram. He states: "Most intriguing, Htun Win had caught a Dendroaspis, an elapid closely related to the infamous black mamba of Africa. Joe was delited." Umm..... An Dendroaspis in Burma ????? Just what Dendroaspis did they catch in Burma ????? He states: Folks like "George Zug, Brian Crother, and Woldgang Wuster read extended exerpts of the manuscript, and made many factual corrections and excellent suggestions for improving the book's overall accuarcy." I am not trying to be nit-picky, however, there are enough scientific errors in the book to make me wonder just how carefully it was reviewed. Overall, the book is a good read. Unlike a bibliography of Raymond Ditmars or Bill Hasst, who worked with (and in Hasst's case, are still working) reptiles for many many years, this book is about a short carere of a herpetologist. Still, in a short time, Joe Slowinski accomplished a lot. This book is one that some herpers will keep in their libraries,( I will )however, many will read it once and sell it. The price has allready fallen from $24.00 new, to $13.00 used on EBay. So, pick up a used copy at EBay or Amazon once the price drops into the $10.00 range. It is an interesting read.

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on July 12, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
A science writer at the NY Times has written a review of this book that does a very good job of describing the life of Joe Slowinski. "No matter how hard James tries to make Slowinski sound roguishly charming, how often he mentions his �disarming, gap-toothed smile,� how earnestly he swears in the epilogue that he sorely feels the loss of someone he never met, I could not help reading between the lines: intentionally or not, he makes his subject sound like a Class A jerk." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/books/review/McNeil-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin Best Regards John Z

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on July 12, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
This link will take you to two more reviews of the book, one written by the author with actual exerpts from the book. If you read these two reviews, and the previous one, there is really no need to spend $10.00 to $24.00 on the book, as the 7 pages of reviews in the NY Times sum up the book completly, and tell you all you need to know about Joe Slowinski, and will save you about 150 pages of reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/books/chapters/chapter-snake-charmer.html Best Regards John Z

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on July 12, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I do not have a vendetta against this book, as has been suggested by some. I just changed my mind. I have posted links to 3 reviews in the NY Times. One is by the author of the book and has many exerpts from the book. Perhaps those exerpts will cause you to want to read more, or buy the book, if you like his writing. One review is nutural, and really not for / or against the book. The other review is by a science writer, and he says things in it about Joe S. that I wanted to say, but chose not to, as I believe it is not good form to speak badly of dead folks. I posted the links because I thought they would be usefull to folks in learning about this book, and deciding if you want to spend money on it. After reading those NY Times reviews, and Karl's review, I decided that I like the "Cliff Notes" version of the book from those reviews better than the full length version of the book. This does not mean that I have an vendetta against the book, or any of the reviewers, or against Joe S. It just means that I thought there was a lot of "extra" material in the book that took a lot of time to read, and that I did not find it worth the $24.00 price. If you have a couple of weeks to spare, then I still recommend reading the whole book, and buying it used at $10.00. However, if you have limited time, and limited money, the "Cliff Notes" version you get by reading Karl's review, and the 3 NY Times reviews is just about as good. You will just miss some details. Best Regards John Z

Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by supsarap on August 13, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I found this compelling. To say "get the Cliff notes" is like saying "get the score" of the last Super Bowl. See the game. Spend the bucks! You can't beat a 24 dollar trip to Burma with "all the snakes you can eat." The childhood, life and death of a devoted herper give insight to the field and the science of something obscure and unrelatable to most. The author made this relatable to all. Additionally I learned more about Darwinism and Phyllology in this short bbiography than in my entire college biology course. Get it for your family...it will help them understand your serpentine ways...

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on August 14, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
"Phyllology" ? As in the study of honey drenched, walnut laden, layered Greek / Armenian pastry ( AKA: BAKLAVAH ) ??? Must have been a cooking college ! ------------------------------------------------------ No need to spend $24.00 for a trip to Burma. The price on this book has fallen like a rock. The Snake Charmer can be purchased NEW on Amazon for $14.00. For that price, it is probably worth buying the book. Best Regards John Z

Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by BigBend66 on August 31, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
This is not going to be popular comment about Joseph Slowinski but I found him to be a complete jack ass! He seemed to be quite the lawbreaker and for stealing the snakes from the Brazilian scientist was unethical.I didn't much care for the way he treated herps as well. Freezing live specimen by the dozens. I know it was for science {yeah yeah} but it didn't jive with me. His drinking and complete life behavior was unexceptible.He used to be one of my heros until I read the book.. O'sheh

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Mark_OShea on October 13, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I read Jamie James' The Snake Charmer and enjoyed it although I did find some of the stories uncharacteristic of the leading scientist I believed Joe Slowinski to be. I wonder how many have been embellished for the narrative or how many of the sources have been completely honest and truthful to the author, since a dead man cannot sue for slander. On the whole I found the book absorbing and ultimately tragic, and it is a personal regret that I never met the man. I am currently writing a review of The Snake Charmer for the UK-based publication The Herptile, although work is back on the back-burner due to more pressing papers. I think it is a good read and it brings home the fact that snakebite in a remote location is a very very serious issue indeed. I also spotted quite a few herpetological errors, as pointed out by "Cro", the most glaring being the "Dendroaspis" captured by Joe's Burmese assistant, which the author (James) then goes on to confirm to be a 'mamba'. Of course there are no mambas in Burma, indeed there are no mambas in the wild outside Africa, so I think this had resulted from a misreading of someone's field notes. It cannot be a confusion with dendrophila (Boiga) as they don't occur in Burma either, so maybe it is a confusion with Dendrelaphis, a genus of nonvenomous treesnakes found from SE Asia to Australasia with at least five species resident in Burma. It is, after all a big-eyed agile diurnal treesnake, like a mamba in general appearance. I am certain this was not Joe's error, taxonomy and snake identification was a speciality of his. Such errors apart I recommend this book whole-heartedly, and I also recommend the next one I read, The Lizard King by Bryan Christy, a true account of the reptile smuggling business. Expect to recognise a lot of well-known people in there also. Incidentally, BigBend66 signs off O'sheh - whoever O'sheh is, he is no relation to me ! Mark O'Shea

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by Cro on October 13, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Mark, it is good to see your review of the book The Snake Charmer. I also have just finished reading "The Lizard King" by Bryan Christy, and what an outstanding book it is ! I will not say more, as Dr. Bob Herrington of this site will be posting a full review of the book here shortly. After that is posted, I look forward to reading Bob's review, and your comments on the book here also. I am also looking forward to reading / watching more of your Adventures in the future. Best Regards John Z

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by hapkidocrochunter on October 14, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I just finished reading the book yesterday. I was excited to see it out on the shelves, as previously, I just read about him back in '02. I do feel bad for him, but he died doing what he loved best. At least it wasn't a viper bite which would have been very painfull. The heavy drinking wasn't very smart, and reaching into a bag carelessly...but hind sight is always 20/20. I did enjoy it, and would buy it. (I just went to Barnes n Noble every couple days to pick up where I left off). It is sad though to think of the career that could have continued with him and his work with herps. The dendroaspis comment took me off guard, if he did have the book reviewed, somebody should have caught it. matt Overall though, I thought it was a good read.

RE: Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by toddg on December 5, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I am almost finished reading Charmer ala Snake and am very much enjoying it! J. James is an excellent writer making the most mundane and boring anecdotes somehow seem interesting. That being said, allow me to �dog pile� on and point out a few more factual flaws: Southern pacific rattlesnakes are now c. Oreganus helleri, not viridis, Russell�s viper is a true viper, not a pit viper, and, type a venom producing canebrakes generate canebrake toxin, not Mojave toxin. I really loved the part when, while camping, Dr. Joe would toss empty beer cans at Brady Barr�s tent just as he was nodding off. If I ever get the opportunity to meet Dr. Barr I�ll be sure to throw a beer can at him, wink, and say �That was for Joe�.

Book Review: The Snake Charmer	Reply
by tmoney on August 19, 2010	Mail this to a friend!
Anyone else notice the horrible mistake of misidentifying the Krait? The reviewer, after getting it straight from the book, has listed it as Bungarus Fasciatus (Banded Krait). The snake that killed Joe Slowinski was a Many-Banded Krait (Bungarus Multicinctus). This is an important detail since this species is the only Krait that possesses Alpha Bungarotoxin, a virulent venom that can kill a human more effectively than 95% of all other elapids.

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