The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge
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On September 11th, 2001 while exploring a Burmese jungle, Dr. Joe Slowinski was bitten by a krait, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. His colleagues kept him alive for 26 hours with mouth-to-mouth respiration, waiting for medical help that would never come because of the global disruption caused by the attacks in America. This is narrative nonfiction in the great tradition of Into the Wild and The Perfect Storm, detailing Slowinski's entire life as an expert on poisonous snakes, structured around the dramatic story of his last expedition in the jungles of Burma. It will include first-person sources including Slowinski's colleagues and members of his family as well as material on snakes, the jungle, science and exploration, and Slowinski's own personality and passions. The first part of the book is organized by species of snake, and how each snake affected Slowinski's life. The book's second part covers Slowinski's final expedition into the deep jungle, the expedition that cost him his life. The Barnes & Noble Review When renowned herpetologist Joe Slowinski was bitten by a many-banded krait, a profoundly venomous snake found throughout southeast Asia, he knew better than anyone the daunting odds he faced. He gathered together his colleagues, fellow biologists engaged in a survey of remote northern Burma, and described for them the symptoms he would experience: first the potent neurotoxin would numb his extremities; next his eyelids and head would droop; soon thereafter the paralysis would reach his diaphram, and he would stop breathing. Drawn to all that creeps, slithers, and crawls, Slowinski mingled the macho charge he got out of handling deadly serpents with a zealous curiosity about the natural world. Author Jamie James charts the origins of Slowinski's passion for nature: artist parents who fostered curiosity and exploration, access to the rough woodlands and fossil-laden riverbanks of the Midwest, and above all an immunity to fear that lead Slowinski to great discoveries and, ultimately, to his death. As his symptoms progressed, Slowinski's colleagues fought to keep him alive, administering mouth-to-mouth breathing in the rank tropical heat for hours, awaiting a rescue that never comes. But it's wonder, not suspense, that's at the heart of this book. The Snake Charmer is more than a tale of derring-do, discovery, and death in the jungle; it's also a story of the grandeur of the biosphere and the lengths some people will go to understand and protect it. --Matthew Battles
Many-Banded Krait 1The Snake Charmer 9The Expedition 157Epilogue 229Sources and Methods 241A Note on Place Names 243Acknowledgments 245Index 251
