I was, like all professional herpetologists I know, deeply affected by certain books I read as a youngster. Two that come to mind are Raymond Lee Ditmars' Snakes of the World and Thrills of a Naturalist's Quest . Herpetology is perhaps not the first genre one would search as a source of inspiring prose, but we have had at least two truly gifted writers in the past. In both of these cases, however, the main text consists of the sparse, lean scientific writing so typical of our discipline. But unlike his predecessors, he has not confined his imaginative style to the front matter.
Snakes is a remarkable piece of writing from beginning to end.
Greene's style is charming, making Snakes a wonderfully engaging read. Don't come closer. These snakes usually seem nervous, rather like ophidian terrorists, as if they were ready and willing to engage us one step further than would a viper. Greene has organized the book in a manner very different from others of the genre, which makes it difficult to typify. Greene has avoided organizing the book into the same predictable units that herpetologists tend to study, such as morphology, behavior, systematics, and so on.