Snakes: A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press

by Sarah Whittley, Peter D. Scott (Illustrator)

Snakes, the best-known members of the reptile family, are some of the most popular animals in the world today. With over 120 species in the United States alone (including 17 poisonous varieties), snakes thrive in every region of the country. From the Rainbow snakes to the Western shovelnose snake to the Sharptail snake, dozens of species are shown in beautifully draw detail. Anatomy, behavior, reproduction, and geographic distribution are included in the engaging text. Despite their reputation, this book explains how Snakes are an essential component of the web of life.

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2002

Reviews

[Linus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning was a little boring but other than that it was really good!

[Trent Marv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright so much like the previous golden guidebook I have read this is a serviceable if slightly dated book. Starting with the positives I found the art made for this book was beautiful and it does a great job illustrating the diversity of snakes. Again, the intro of this book consists of a brief discussion of their prehistory, no images were made which is sad as there were many interesting extinct forms worthy of looking at even if this book predates the discovery of the massive Titanoboa. The anatomy and other information was presented a little better than what was done with the insect guide.
As for the substance it is fine for what was known around the early 2000s though there are some decisions that annoy me as well as some info that is now out of date. Starting with the out-of-date stuff the most notable example involves the genus Agkistrodon which is famous for including the Copperhead and Cottonmouth snakes. The book lists it as including 10 species distributed over North American and Asia. This is no longer considered the case as the Asian species have been moved to new genera like Calloselasma and Deinagkistrodon. The remaining three species have also been shown to have more diversity with a total of 8 species. The book lists 18 families which is accurate for the time but a lot of new families have also been recognized meaning the total number is now 32 especially from the Elapids. These include Psammophiidae (sand snakes), Pseudoxyrhophiidae (Malagasy hognose snakes), Pareidae (snail eaters), Cyclocoridae (Philippine snakes), Homalopsidae (Indo-Australian water snakes), Lamprophiidae, Prosymnidae (shovel snouted snakes), Micrelapidae (two-headed snakes), Pseudaspididae (mock vipers), Xenodermidae (Dragon-scaled snakes), Xenophidiidae (spine jawed snakes), Gerrhopilidae (Indo-Malayan blindsnakes), and Xenotyphlopidae (Madegascar Blindsnakes). It should be said a number of these are illustrated in the book but subsumed into other families.
As for decisions that are not bad due to age the book decided not to illustrate any members Anomalepidae (Dawn Blind Snakes), Anomochilidae (Dwarf Pipe snakes) or Uropeltidae (Shield Tailed Snakes) despite naming them. I think this was a missed opportunity as I think one member of each could have been fine to include.
Overall this is a good beginner's guide just keep in mind some of the shortcomings that exist due to the age of it.