Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind, Abridged Edition

by Laurence M. Klauber

Book Overview

This virtual encyclopedia of the rattlesnake became a natural history sensation when it was first published in 1956. The republication of the Second Edition, with a new foreword by Harry W. Greene, will give amateur and professional herpetologists alike reason to rejoice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520040392
• ISBN13: 9780520040397
• Release Date: February 1984
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

decades after it's publication, still the best!

This book is still the best book on rattlesnakes, decades after it was published. That alone ought to stand as a testament to the value this book has. The author brought an incredibly analytical mind to this book, and it shows. Some of the medical information is out of date, as is some of the taxonomy, but much on the habitats, morphology, ecology, interaction with man, etc. still holds true. His work on the rattlesnakes strike, on comparitive morphology of the two genera, etc. still stand. This book covers rattlesnakes in incredible depth, going over every detail of these serpents. It's a godsend for those of us interested in rattlers. This book leaves no stone unturned (herping joke, sorry). It covers it's subject matter completly and professionally, and is well worth having on the bookshelf as a reference. If you like rattlers, or for that matter find zoology interesting, this book is a worthwhile read. If only more herpetological text were near as thorough as this one...

Klauber rules!

Anything and everything you need to know about these great reptiles! Status, morphology, the rattle, bodily functions, behavior, population and ecology, food, reproduction, venom apparatus, envenomation and its effects, treatment and prevention of envenomation, control an utilization, enemies of rattlesnakes, Indians and rattlesnakes, post-Columbian knowledge of rattlesnakes, myths, folklore and tall stories.

A truly interesting book

I read this book in the mid 90's just for the heck of it, and found it to be wonderful. The style is neither dryly academic nor breathlessly tabloid, but just right. The text answers almost all possible questions about rattlesnake life, legends, myths, and taxonomy that one could think of. It is one of the few books I have read that could be used as either a reference or vacation book.

Best book on rattlesnakes ever written.

This is by far the best book on the subject of rattlesnakes ever written. I am so glad they made a second edition. Everything you ever wanted to know about rattlesnakes is in this book.

This is the definitive text on rattlesnakes.

This is the highly regarded study of rattlesnakes by the man who has more species named after him than anyone. This book originally came in a two volume text, but that is now, sadly, out of print. This book is a must for the serious herpetologist!