Snakes - Hardcover

David Badger, of Franklin, Tennessee, is a journalism professor and former book critic and columnist for the Nashville Tennessean, and has written and edited many other books. John Netherton, of Nashville, Tennessee, is a renowned nature photographer, and a regular contributor to Outdoor Photographer. The pair collaborated on Frogs. Netherton's other books include Voyageur Press' North American Wading Birds (At the Water's Edge).

"We regard serpents with a destructive hatred purely and simply because we are taught so from childhood," as this new homage to snakes quotes from a 1919 work by naturalist W. H. Hudson. One of the hopes of author Badger and photographer Netherton was to call attention to current threats to snakes and their habitats. They succeed admirably in engaging the reader with beautiful photographs and quotes from earlier works by great naturalists and herpetologists, who were also great writers. The first chapter is a general overview of humans and snakes and is full of interesting tidbits, such as the fact that Benjamin Franklin recommended that a rattlesnake would make a good symbol of the nascent United States. The second chapter presents a primer on snake biology and behavior, and the very long third chapter is an overview of various families and species of snakes (mostly native to North America). The photographs are breathtaking in their composition, clarity, and sheer beauty, and they alone recommend the book. Nancy Bent