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Jamie James, The Snake Charmer. A life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge. New York, 2008. ISBN: 13-978-1-4013-0213-9. $ 15,-.

■ On September 12, the day after 'nine-eleven', the famous herpetologist Joe Slowinski dies in the Burmese jungle from the effects of a bite by a krait. He only lived to be 38. For 30 hours his team members tried to keep him alive by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while cherishing the false hope that a Burmese army helicopter was on its way to take him to a hospital.

James describes the advent to Slowinski's bizarre death in detail. The team has a lot of work in determining and cataloguing the amphibians and reptiles they collect in the Burmese jungle. One day before dawn one of the team members is already busy sorting species. When Slowinski asks about the contents of one of the bags, the team member holds up the bag and says: 'I think is is a Dinodon.' It is still too dark to get a good first impression of the animal yet Joe sticks his hand in the bag to take the snake out. 'It's a damned krait' Slowinski cries out when he takes his hand out of the bag with a 35 cm long snake stuck to his middle finger.  Earlier another Dinodon had been mistaken for a krait which makes the team members mistake more understandable. Dinodon septentrionalis is so incredibly guilty of mimicry that even an experienced herpetologist needs a magnifying glass to verify the presence or absence of a tiny loreal scale; the difference between a innocent friendly banded Dinodon and a deadly krait. This mistake, the nonchalance of Slowinski, the false hope of a dry bite, the first symp­toms, de inevitable outcome... it all reads like a thriller. Slowinski's sad end starts at page 200 but the preceding 199 pages inform the reader on the stormily of a passionate scientist and unconditional snake lover.

James gave his book a orderly arrangement. The main part contains four chapters: 'Many-Banded Krait', 'The Snake Charmer', 'The Expedition' and an 'Epilogue'. The second part of the book fascinatingly tells the intensive life Slowinski lived. It does so by starting every chapter with a short encyclopaedic description of a snake that played an important role in a particular phase of Slowinski's life. It soon becomes clear that the young alfa boy Slowinski is fascinated by nature and reptiles in particular. He is an extremely talented student who quickly - first in a small circle, later more widely - builds a reputation with papers in prestig­ious journals on various subjects. He will write his PhD thesis on coral snakes of the New World. His motive and Joe's work on it are described in the chapter that applicably is called 'Central American Coral Snake: Micrurus nigrocinctus'.

But Joe Slowinski became famous for his research on the poisonous snakes of Asia. In 2001 the consensus was that the scientific name Bungarus multicinctus covered different krait species. Extensive field research would be needed, in which the numerous specimens caught would have to be catalogued by an experienced herpetologist. Joe Slowinski considered him­self the man for this task. When Slowinski, after a few years as a postdoc on different univer­sities, is appointed assistant-curator of the herpetology department of the California Academy of Sciences, his golden opportunity to realize his ideals arrives. The Academy has a budget of millions for field research. Joe's reputation is already so good that he get carte blanche. Of course he picks Burma. There are few countries that have been so poorly mapped, form such a terra incognita for researchers en raise such high expectations for herpetologists as Burma. During his first expedition his particularly goes hunting for the king cobra, Ophiophagus hannah. Burma enchants Slowinski. Ten more expeditions will follow to this dictatorship.
The Snake Charmer captivates from beginning to end. Slowinski was an exceptionally in­triguing personality. He constantly craved for recognition, he was obsessed with his career, finally suffered more and more from self-overestimation - which not only brought him the deadly bite of a krait but earlier also that of a cobra with less serious consequences. We read on the problems that come with putting together a scientific expedition with only alfa men, on the jealousy that inevitably creeps up when renowned scientists must cooperate, on the hor­rors of the Burmese jungle.

James has written a thorough biography of an intriguing man. His work is excellently documented and written in an attractive style. A decent number of black-and white and colour pictures and an attractive lay-out complement this book which only cost me $ 15,-  on Ama­zon.com.

Translation from Dutch by René van der Vlugt.

First published in Litteratura Serpentium 29 (2009).