The Snakebite Survivors' Club: Travels Among Serpents

Equal parts exotic adventure, naturalist lore, soul-baring confessional and offbeat history, this elegant travelogue focuses on serpents--in the wild, in diverse cultures and in myth, religion and the popular imagination. Determined to overcome his lifelong fear of snakes--and to probe his obsession with them--English journalist Seal sought out and interviewed snake-bite survivors and snake experts on four continents. His maverick odyssey opens with a Southern gothic horror tale in Alabama, where a wife-beating, hard-drinking, snake-handling preacher tries to murder his wife by getting his church's diamondback rattlesnakes to bite her. In both Alabama and Tennessee, Seal attends rapturous congregations where handling of venomous snakes is part of Christian ritual (literally following the biblical injunction, ""They shall take up serpents""). In Australia, he meets a Stetson-wearing outbacker (named Dundee, of course) who survived a lethal snake bite. Through tales of snake lore, Seal charts Australia's metamorphosis from dumping-ground for convicts to independent frontier nation. In south India, he found that the traditional Hindu reverence for snakes persists, in sharp contrast to the West, where the serpent is usually associated with sin or evil. In Kenya, Seal visits a snake park and meets mchowis (witch doctors) who dispatch snakes to bite wrongdoers. In 1776, a rattlesnake with 13 rattles adorned the American flag, symbol of the rebellious colonists' fierce independence. Seal's delightful book may forever change the way readers think about snakes; his serpentine forays into human folly, superstition, courage, fear, cruelty and benevolence verge on the Monty Pythonesque, and his footloose, open-minded spirit recalls Bruce Chatwin. (Mar.)