Rattlesnakes of Arizona

Herp literature forum.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
snakenole
Posts: 8
Joined: August 16th, 2016, 10:24 am

Rattlesnakes of Arizona

Post by snakenole »

Has anyone ordered and received a copy of Rattlesnakes of Arizona from ECO Publishing? I just ordered it yesterday. Looks pretty nice. Has some original artwork by Tell HIcks, who always does really great work. Curious what you think about it if you have it. Thanks.

Mike
User avatar
Jeff
Posts: 620
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 6:01 am
Location: Louisiana

Re: Rattlesnakes of Arizona

Post by Jeff »

It's a very big, heavy book in longitudinal format (wider than tall). Each species has a different author or assortment of authors, and each has some particular knowledge of the taxon about which they write. The accounts are pretty thorough, with the authors plugging in figures, tables and data from their own published works, and there are boxed sections that serve as informative footnotes about some interesting aspect of a species' biology. There are many photos for each species, along with the very nice Tell Hicks paintings. Tell even adds a portrait of a box turtle and Geronimo. It's sort of s scientific coffee-table book, much like Harry Greene's book of two decades ago. There is a very interesting forward by Bayard Brattstrom, and a dedication to Charlie Painter in which Charlie offers some pre-mortem vignettes about his life with crotalids.

Well worth it,

Jeff
Jimi
Posts: 1955
Joined: December 3rd, 2010, 12:06 pm

Re: Rattlesnakes of Arizona

Post by Jimi »

I think you'll be glad you bought it. Mine came about a month ago, and I have no regrets about plunking down the dough.

Mainly I think the content is pretty good. The diversity of author opinions, temperaments, and orientations makes for some interesting comparisons. Some folks are careful to stick to facts, others - one in particular - venture into some pretty wild conjecture. Some folks' stock rose in my eyes, others' fell.

One point that bugs me (and has for a long time) - all the "unpublished data" frequently referred to in the oreganus-complex accounts.

Coffee-table book is about right. Nice pictures, great heft.

Enjoy it.
User avatar
Ribbit
Posts: 601
Joined: June 12th, 2010, 10:28 am
Location: Monterey Peninsula, CA
Contact:

Re: Rattlesnakes of Arizona

Post by Ribbit »

I looked through it when I was at the Chiricahua Desert Museum recently. It's huge and gorgeous. Note that it is Volume 1. They told me Volume 2 should be out by the end of the year.

John
Post Reply