The Snakebite Survivors’ Club: Travels Among Serpents (Picador, 1999)
Named as an Exceptional Book of the Year by the New York Public Library.
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Snakes are Jeremy Seal’s abiding fascination… and greatest fear. So he decided to journey deep into America, Australia, Africa and India in search of some of the world’s most notorious deadly snakes, and meet the people who live among them. The result is as far from a dry herpetologist’s handbook as could be imagined. The Snakebite Survivors’ Club is an exhilarating hybrid of travelogue, social history, and powerful personal exploration of a universal fear. This extraordinary travel book also reads like a thriller, with Seal interweaving his narrative with the real-life story of an Alabama woman forced, at gunpoint, to take bites from rattlesnakes kept by her murderous preacher husband.
‘Seal’s delightful book may change forever the way readers think about snakes; his serpentine forays… verge on the Monty Pythonesque, and his footloose, open-minded spirit recalls Bruce Chatwin.’ - Publishers Weekly
‘Travel books don’t come much quirkier than Jeremy Seal’s compelling little treasure… a thrilling read.’ - Daily Mail
‘Creepy, sharply observed and wonderfully bizarre.’ - Independent on Sunday
‘Seal’s descriptions of the creatures are elegant, exotic and sensual… By the end of the book, he has elevated them to the sacred.' -Simon Armitage
‘One of the most unlikely yet satisfying travel books… Seal’s writing style kept me gripped until the end. A grimly fascinating read and guaranteed to make you watch where you walk.’ - Wanderlust
‘Seal tells fascinating stories and complements them with lore that is funny, gruesome and mesmerizing.’ - Men’s Journal
Snakes are Jeremy Seal’s abiding fascination… and greatest fear. So he decided to journey deep into America, Australia, Africa and India in search of some of the world’s most notorious deadly snakes, and meet the people who live among them. The result is as far from a dry herpetologist’s handbook as could be imagined. The Snakebite Survivors’ Club is an exhilarating hybrid of travelogue, social history, and powerful personal exploration of a universal fear. This extraordinary travel book also reads like a thriller, with Seal interweaving his narrative with the real-life story of an Alabama woman forced, at gunpoint, to take bites from rattlesnakes kept by her murderous preacher husband.
‘Seal’s delightful book may change forever the way readers think about snakes; his serpentine forays… verge on the Monty Pythonesque, and his footloose, open-minded spirit recalls Bruce Chatwin.’ - Publishers Weekly
‘Travel books don’t come much quirkier than Jeremy Seal’s compelling little treasure… a thrilling read.’ - Daily Mail
‘Creepy, sharply observed and wonderfully bizarre.’ - Independent on Sunday
‘Seal’s descriptions of the creatures are elegant, exotic and sensual… By the end of the book, he has elevated them to the sacred.' -Simon Armitage
‘One of the most unlikely yet satisfying travel books… Seal’s writing style kept me gripped until the end. A grimly fascinating read and guaranteed to make you watch where you walk.’ - Wanderlust
‘Seal tells fascinating stories and complements them with lore that is funny, gruesome and mesmerizing.’ - Men’s Journal
