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Amphibia-Reptilia 29 (2008): 144 Kreiner, G. (2007): The Snakes of Europe. Edition Chi- maira, Frankfurt-am-Main. 317 pp. ISBN 978-3-89973- 475-1. Price 54.80 € . Many books of European snakes have been pub- lished in the last fifteen years, thus showing that these animals are still very fascinating for the general public in Europe. Kreiner’s book, pub- lished in the ‘black-cover-series’ of Chimaira, is just the last one. This book is organized in a very classical way for these books, with a general introduc- tory section including generalities of snake bi- ology (from anatomy to ecology, from conser- vation to captive maintenance) (pages 13-41), followed by a section on diagnoses to the fam- ilies and key to the genera (pages 42-44), and then a long section where all the species are examined in detail (pages 45-284). The book ends with a synthesis of distribution range of all species (pages 285-287), a glossary (pages 288-289), and a bibliographic list (pages 290- 317). In the main section, each snake species is described in detail, with comments on mor- phology, distribution, and natural history. The text, interestingly written with an English style different from the plain, dry and a bit boring style typical of scientific literature (e.g., Sand- Jensen, 2007), is in general scientifically cor- rect and supported by an adequate number of citations. However, advanced readers (i.e., pro- fessional herpetologists) will hardly find some- thing of really novel or merely little-known in this book, that seems to be written for the am- ateur public. However, the book has hundreds of excellent photos (mainly of snakes, but also of their habitats), that make it very attractive also for the professionals wanting to admire the wonderful variation in coloration and shapes of these splendid animals. In conclusion, this is a very nice book that should be on the shelf of every amateur of snakes, and that can be attractive also to pro- fessionals interested in admiring the wonderful iconography provided by author. Overall, the book is very cheap in comparison to the high ty- pographic quality and the use of full colors for all plates, and this should facilitate the success of this book in the herpetological market. Luca Luiselli Centre of Environmental Studies ‘Demetra s.r.l.’ Roma Reference Sand-Jensen, K. (2007): How to write consistently boring scientific literature. Oikos 116 : 723-727. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008. Also available online - www.brill.nl/amre
Amphibia-Reptilia – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2008
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