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by D. Bruce Means

Book Overview

Based on his more than 40 years of field research, Means, an expert on the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, reveals the biological complexity and beauty of the animals he has studied. In Australia,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1561644331
• ISBN13: 9781561644339
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Pineapple Press
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Stalking the Plumed Serpent and Other Adventures in Herpetology

This book is not only a must read for both amateur and professional herpetologists but a great book for generalized naturalists and ecologists. Bruce Means is a consummate writer who places a reader in his place in his travels so that the reader can vividly experience Dr. Means' experiences vicariously with a remarkable sense of "being there". I highly recommend this book to herpers, animal lovers, naturalists and eco-travelers.

Serpents in the garden

I picked up this book at the local library because of the intriguing title: "Stalking the Plumed Serpent and Other Adventures in Herpetology," I did not notice the author's name, Bruce Means, until I got home. This immediately evoked the rambling house at Tall Timber Research Station in north Florida, with its thick stand of southern magnolia where I conducted a research project on Lyssomanes viridis (a jumping spider), and the mature eastern forest of Woodyard Hammock, where I discovered spotted salamanders under the rotted logs. During the period I worked at Tall Timbers, Bruce Means was the director and I often got a chance to talk with him. He was certainly an interesting person, then (as he describes in his book) placing radio transmitters down the throats of the local diamondback rattlesnakes. I was pretty sure that he would eventually get bitten (as he does in the first part of the book), but the main threat he had to his health - about the time I was commuting once a month from Gainesville (University of Florida) to Tall Timbers - was an infection he got from being bitten by a baby opossum! Bruce is a good writer and he has captured in this wonderful book the essence of the environment and herp fauna of the Southeastern United States, with Costa Rica, Mexico, Madagascar, and Australia thrown in for good measure. He even has chapters on cotton rats and earthworms - organisms that seldom get much play in books. He genuinely admires rattlesnakes and other magnificent snakes like the taipan, as well as everything living. Yes, some snakes can be dangerous, but if looked at more objectively than most people do they are amazing (like most, if not all life forms on Earth). The hatred of snakes, spiders, salamander and other "disgusting" fauna is not confined to the uneducated; I had one major professor and one department head who hated rattlesnakes with a passion to match Bruce's love of them and would always kill them if they could. On the other hand I once met a Ozark woman who was fascinated with such creepy creatures as spiders and salamanders - she was considered to be a witch-woman by the locals! I may be prejudiced, but I though that this book was a fascinating read and I hope many people will at least look at it. Despite the popular idea, rattlesnakes and other venomous biota are not usually looking for victims in whom to sink their fangs. They are in fact some of the most interesting organisms (I would say next to spiders!) on this planet. Bruce Means has captured the excitement of working with these creatures as a field biologist. However, he does go a lot further than I would in trying to catch and photograph the most dangerous snakes on the planet! Maybe I am a coward, but I would never tackle a taipan alone along a one lane road in the outback of Australia, with the possibility that another vehicle would be soon approaching! Despite this I still recommend his book as a strong antidote to the untruths about venomous sna

One Man's Love Affair With Creepy Crawlies!

STALKING THE PLUMED SERPENT leaves the reader with two conclusions. First, author D. Bruce Means has a deep interest in and love for reptiles and amphibians. Second, he is certifiable! If you doubt that, read his description of driving a land cruiser one-handed with a deadly coastal taipan wrapped around his other arm starting on page 190. If you view snakes, alligators, salamanders and snapping turtles with distaste or horror, STALKING THE PLUMED SERPENT will be a revelation and a roller-coaster reading experience! For 40 years scientist-conservationist Means has carried on a love affair with creepy crawlies. STALKING THE PLUMED SERPENT is his account of some of the adventures he has enjoyed over the years. I use "adventures" advisedly since they often involved creatures such as the aforementioned coastal taipan, cottonmouths, diamondback, pythons, snapping turtles, bushmasters and other less dangerous 'herps.' Yet throughout the book, Means' fascination and admiration for those creatures shine through. He very much reminds me of Steve Irwin, possessing that same mix of love of nature, boyish enthusiasm and intimate knowledge of God's creatures that endeared the Croc Hunter to so many. Few people could wax poetic about the "noble head and face" of a taipan or the "wonderful work of life-art" that is a bushmaster but Means does. Yet, despite the joy that runs throughout the book, there is also an element of sadness. Time and again he observes the ongoing destruction of habitat that will doom so many of his beloved herps. Whatever your feelings for creepy crawlies, STALKING THE PLUMED SERPENT will simultaneously enthrall, repel, fascinate and educate you as few other books can. It's a marvelous, guided tour to a world few of us knew about...till now. Highly recommended.

Read this if you think you don't like snakes and salamanders

In "Stalking the Plumed Serpent" Bruce Means has achieved something truly rare -a herpetological memoir which doesn't rely on the cheap gimmick of overdramatized bites by evil venomous snakes (or gators or snapping turtles) to keep the pages turning -not that some of these things don't occasionally happen in the course of the 40 year career that Means draws upon for the 22 essays that make up the book -it's just that they fade into perspective among all the other exciting things a herpetologist can accomplish in that time frame. The writing style is engaging and the author isn't afraid to laugh at himself -there's never a dull moment. Each essay ends with a strong conservation message without ever preaching. The very best parts of the book are when we are accompanying the author in his home turf of Florida, and the essay I found the most captivating of all was the one about studying the Alabama red hills salamander at night. Hopefully, this book will serve Means' intended purpose of convincing the unconvinced reader that animals neglected and hated are worthy of affection and protection.