The Snakebite Survivors' Club: Travels Among Serpents

I have been fascinated by snakes ever since childhood and read whatever I can get me=y hands on and this definitely ranks high. A self-proclaimed phobic journeys to the heart of darkness for people like him, snake handling religious cults bith here and in India, among other places and takes you along for the ride. It is funny exciting and fascintaing .

With keen powers of observation & description and not a little trepidation, Seal sets out across continents and cultures in search of the modern folklore surrounding the world’s deadliest snakes. The prose is lively and the humor dry and self-deprecating. All in all, Seal succeeds in rendering the fear and fascination that these creatures inspire in the human imagination.

Popular nineteenth-century cures for snakebite included gunpowder, which was heaped on the wound and then ignited. Bite victims were known to remove the bitten extremity with an axe or even a loaded gun. Leeches, on account of their sucking ability, were often applied to bites. On the principle that the application of a second poison would neutralize the first, show more strychnine, mercury, ammonia and ‘chlorine of gold’ all enjoyed spells of popularity. The juice of banana leaves had its supporters, as did the urine of toads or even immersion in cattle manure. And massive quantities of alcohol, even more than was generally downed as a daily salve against the brutish realities of nineteenth-century Australian life, were regarded as an excellent cure for snakebite.

Saranac Black Forest Bavarian Ale
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I read this a long time ago so the briefness of this review is a result of my less-than-perfect memory! I had higher expectations for this book than it delivered. I thought it would be an interesting and quirky read but it fell short on all elements. It wasn't an awful book, just a mediocre one. I felt that it tried to be too many things in one package and that meant that it was neither a travel memoir nor an interesting study of the individuals written about nor an interesting piece about snakes (although there are some pretty pictures!). It's an 'almost there' book which I find irritating because there are glimpses of what it could be.

If you love snakes and are deathly afraid of them, this book is perfect. I was skeptical, but this is some great writing and story telling involving some of the deadliest snakes in the world, including The Black Mamba, the inland Taipan, the King Cobra, and the Western Diamondback.

This book sounded fascinating, but the author jumps around topics, throws in long stories that have barely anthing to do with the topic, is fond of sentence fragments, and refers to Indians as coolies! My advice would be not to waste your time on this terrible book.