Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
Although it was still too dark to see well, Joe absentmindedly thrust his right hand into the sack to extract the specimen and have a look. Immediately, he winced with pain and yanked out his hand. A tiny black-and-white banded snake, less than ten inches long, was dangling limply from his middle finger, its fangs still sunk into his flesh.
In the fall of 2001, deep in the jungle of Burma, a team of scientists is searching for rare snakes. They are led by Dr. Joe Slowinski, at forty already one of the most brilliant biologists of our time. It is the most ambitious scientific expedition ever mounted into this remote region, venturing into the foothills of the Himalayas. The bold undertaking is brought to a dramatic halt by the bite of the many-banded krait, the deadliest serpent in Asia. In the moment he pulled his hand from the specimen bag and saw the krait, Joe knew that his life was in grave and imminent peril. Thus began one of the most remarkable wilderness rescue attempts of modern times, as Joe's teammates kept him alive for thirty hours by mouth-to-mouth respiration, waiting for a rescue that never came.
A daredevil obsessed with venomous snakes since his youth, Slowinski was a modern-day adventurer who rose quickly to the top of his field, discovering many previously unidentified snake species in his brief yet exhilarating career. The Snake Charmer is at once brilliant biography and exotic travel literature, blended with an accessible introduction to the bizarre, fascinating-and sometimes controversial-world of snake science. The narrative transports the reader into primeval wilderness, from the Everglades to Peru to Burma, in search of rattlesnakes and boa constrictors, kraits and cobras.
Joe Slowinski's career was fast and exciting, his tragic final expedition a pulse-pounding struggle between man and nature. In The Snake Charmer, renowned journalist and author Jamie James captures the life and death of this charismatic, endlessly fascinating man. Exhaustively researched in interviews with Slowinski's colleagues and family, and the author's own trek into the wilds of Burma, this is narrative nonfiction in the tradition of Into the Wild and The Perfect Storm.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Sensational death of a Peter Pan
Customer Rating:
I'm at odds about this book. On one hand, I very much enjoyed learning more about herpetology and field biology. The best parts of the book, I thought, delved into advances in the classification of snakes and description of key species. Did you know that nearly all snakes are poisonous but that some are simply not toxic enough to affect humans? I didn't. That some "primitive" snakes such as pythons have pairs of organs (kidneys, lungs, etc.), but that more "evolved" snakes have single organs, making them more streamlined and efficient? Or that those who survive the nearly-always-fatal bite of the Russell's viper undergo a peculiar pituitary reversal, taking on childlike characteristics and becoming hairless, impotent, and sterile?
This sort of snake lore provided a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world. However, overall the book is structured as a biography with herpetological interludes. It commences at the moment when Joe Slowinski, a gifted but reckless herpetologist, was bitten by one of the world's most deadly snakes during an ill-fated expedition in a remote region of Burma. The book then breaks off and returns to Slowinski's childhood and progresses gradually back to the point of the fatal bite, which ultimately kills Slowinski after prolonged and heroic efforts to keep him alive.
Author James, in the epilogue, makes the connection between Slowinski's rashness and overconfidence and his death, but I still had difficulty overcoming an aversion to the beer-swilling, macho Slowinski, who at thirty-eight still behaved like a disarmingly charming but socially stunted twelve-year-old. I suppose I've met too many characters in this mold over the years to retain much regard for them. They gravitate toward the never-never land of labs and field research, places that allow them to obsess over a chosen subject, insulated from significant moral and social development.
James does a good job of scrupulously telling Slowinski's tale, and he has a clear, easy-to-digest style that makes for rapid reading. But I found myself wondering if his efforts to be even handed about his subject -- not to mention safeguard access to his sources of information, including Slowinski's parents, sister, and friends -- led him to indulge in a bit of hagiography. Slowinski's manner of death may have been sensational, but I didn't feel his life itself merited the full biographical treatment.
A Riveting Read
Customer Rating:
This is a fascinating, well-written book. It was as though the author was right there with the team on the expedition and was relaying the the play-by-play back to the reader in hushed whispers much like the commentators in a televised golf game. I was spell-bound. During the scenes where the scientist's team was keeping him alive -- though I knew well the final outcome -- I found myself pulling for Joe to live! No wonder this book is growing in popularity as the word gets around. It is a top-rate biography.
The Snake Charmer would make an absorbing, engrossing screenplay with its engaging relationships among the individuals and the psychologically interesting figure of Joe, himself. I'll be eager for the release of the movie!
GOOD BOOK - BUT NOT A PAGE TURNER
Customer Rating:
This book provides a peak inside the world of herpetology via the life and work of Dr. Joe Slowinski. It's a good read, but not a great read. I came away feeling sorry for Slowinski, evidently a fine herpetologist but a very dysfunctional man. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the subject matter, or Myanmar, then definitely pick up the book. If not, don't feel like you've got to add this book to your "Must Read" list.
Snake Charmer
Customer Rating:
A very readable biography of a fascinating person. I would recommended it to anyone interested about people who are not afraid of snakes!
Very enjoyable listen
Customer Rating:
I listened to this on audio (Audible download.) Very hard to turn the car engine off. I think the protagonist was a little cracked, but it makes for fascinating listening. Well read.
Select button not working? 
