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The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge
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The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge Hardcover - 2008

by Jamie James


From the publisher

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.

Details

  • Title The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge
  • Author Jamie James
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 260
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Hachette Books, New York
  • Date 2008-06
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9781401302139 / 1401302130
  • Weight 1.17 lbs (0.53 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.63 x 6.5 x 0.88 in (24.46 x 16.51 x 2.24 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Library of Congress subjects Herpetologists - United States, Slowinski, Joseph
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2007048987
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

About the author

Jamie James is the author of eight books, including "Music of the Spheres," "Other Origins," and "Eccentrics: A Study in Sanity and Strangeness." He has lived in Indonesia since 1999, where he continues to write for top American newspapers and magazines, including the New Yorker, "Atlantic Monthly," "Conde Nast Traveler," "New York Times," "Los Angeles Times," and "Wall Street Journal."
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The Snake Charmer : A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge

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The Snake Charmer : A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge

The Snake Charmer : A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge

by Jamie James

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The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge
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The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge

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